Tuesday’s Tip: Wash with Less Waste

It’s no secret that you can’t control other people. (Of course, that never stops me from wishing that I could. You know you do too, so don’t judge.) When you leave your home, you leave behind the guarantee that everything within your reach will be a sustainable option. You might have Pangea hand soap or a bar of Dr. Bronner’s in your bathroom, but when you enter somebody else’s home or business, you have no control over what products they have chosen to use.

I don’t recommend ceasing to wash your hands altogether. Bathrooms are dirty places, especially the public ones. So when you’re faced with industrial-strength anti-bacterial soap and paper towels made from virgin timber, just be conscious of that and use less. Much less. When I wash my hands in a public bathroom, I use as little soap as I can get away with, and I’ll use just one or two paper towels, if I use any at all.

Think about what you’re putting down the drain or into the trash no matter where you are, and do the best you can with what you’ve got. But don’t forget to wash your hands, because that’s disgusting.