kitchen utensils

Jo Ruxton: Sustainability Tips

sustainablility

Sustainability Tips

Sustainability is really important to us here at Urban Veda and we feel especially strongly about minimising our use of plastic. The overproduction of plastic and the disposal of it is one of the greatest threats to the oceans that cover over 70% of our planet’s surface. The beautiful biodiversity, the animals, the plants and the microorganisms suffer. We suffer too. We are always striving to be as proactive as we can regarding our sustainability. That is why we are incredibly proud to be partners with the Plastic Oceans Foundation. This foundation was founded in 2009 by Jo Ruxton and Sonja Noman, and since its inception has championed the cause of combatting plastic pollution whilst raising worldwide awareness of the dangers of single use plastic. With last month being World Earth Month, we heard from founder of Plastic Oceans, Jo Ruxton some of her personal top tips regarding sustainability that can easily be incorporated into daily life that will reduce your plastic use. They are really simple to follow and take very little time making them suitable for everyone.
For Your Bathroom
“Use reusable cotton pads for removing your makeup or for applying skincare products”.
It is quite astonishing how many cotton pads that you can get through in a week, they can really stack up. With reusable cotton pads simply put them in the washing machine ready for their next use. Hassle-free, cost effective and such a simple sustainable swap.

For Your Kitchen

“Invest in a lovely butter dish so that you can buy your butter wrapped in paper rather than in plastic tubs”.
This is a really simple top tip and can also save your money long-term. Butter wrapped in paper is often cheaper than tubbed butter. Not only does it taste much fresher, natural butter is often far healthier that processed margarine.
“Buy yourself a reusable and BPA free water bottle”.
Arguably one of the first, but still one of the best methods of plastic reduction to really catch on, buying yourself a water bottle can have an amazingly positive effect on the environment. There are free fill stations all over London, and a kitchen sink is never far away. Bottled water is also devastating for our natural world with an estimated 3 litres of water needed to make just 500ml of bottled water.
“Use a bamboo scrubber”.
Bamboo scrubbers are just as effective at cleaning your dishes as the traditional plastic brushes are. With less than a tenth of the environmental impact. The bristles, when they fall from the brush, can fall down the drain or be discarded and will then naturally biodegrade.
“Use tin foil, or a lunch box, for all of your food-needs”.
The main takeaway from this tip is to avoid cling film. There are many alternatives that work just as well or even better, such as tin foil or a lunch box. If you can, use the latter. Make this one-time purchase and use it time and time again. To keep your food fresher and should last you years. We hope that you can follow just one of Jo’s sustainability top tips. If everyone reading this does just that then we can make a real difference to our planet and our oceans. Hopefully to the future health of the magical range of animals and plants that call this world home alongside us. To learn more about the Plastic Oceans Foundation and about the vital work that they do, please click here.