My Journey To Become More Eco-Friendly

I’ve been so busy the last few weeks with my Etsy shop and researching more eco-friendly packaging. As I’ve been thinking a lot about packing and recyclable materials and how much waste must end up landfill, I joined a few zero waste and eco-friendly groups on Facebook and it has made me think so much about plastics and how much can’t be recycled. Now, as much as I’d like to be completely zero waste, the practicalities of such would mean drastically changing our lifestyle. Some of the people in these groups put me completely to shame. It’s working progress and something that I am passionate about, so I am currently working on making little changes to our life for the better. I have currently found a company that sells eco-friendly materials including 100% recycled tissue paper, paper tape and paper packaging bags which I am now sending all my parcels from Etsy in.

I’m not one of these people who are completely zero waste, but it’s really made me think about it and made me realise that something needs to change!

I already sell some eco-friendly products over on Etsy, so I was already conscious of our impact on the environment but wanted to push on in my journey to become more eco-friendly. As a family, we already use reusable kitchen towels and makeup pads. This month, I decided to try out some cloth sanitary pads once I learned how much end up in landfills, unable to biodegrade and takes between 500-800 years! (down2earthmaterials) I was so shocked and disgusted that I have never even wondered about this before. So, this month I joined some sewing groups to find out about cloth sanitary pads and what materials I needed to make some to try out. It turns out that I actually had all the materials already. One of the groups that I joined had some free patterns in their group with different sizes you can try and find what suits you.

After making a few, I bought a couple of patterns as I wanted a variety of sizes and for different flows. These are made from cotton and cotton lycra. They have 3 layers of bamboo and are backed with polar fleece. The last thing I wanted was to have leaks.

I have to say, I’m really impressed! They are extremely comfortable to wear – much more than I thought they would be! I’ve had no leaks or any issues with them at all! The worst part is washing them out but I think after changing nappies for the last 3 years and previous to that (I worked in a nursery for 8 years) I can get used to it. After use, I just wash with cold water and then put them into the washing machine. I plan to make a wet bag for them eventually. They wash extremely well, and I just hang to dry in front of our wood burner (unless we have guests haha).