11
votes
Are there any more sustainable alternatives to conventional commercial toothpaste?
My toothpaste is made from natural materials (mainly clay, small quantities of herb extracts and essential oils) and comes in a (recyclable) aluminium tube. The cap is from recyclable plastic (but of ...
- 5,903
11
votes
Accepted
Alternatives to garbage plastic bags
Ironically, the better you are at reducing your waste, the less likely you are to succeed at replacing plastic bags for the irreducible portion. My mother throws out actual garbage twice a year - one ...
- 1,777
10
votes
Alternative to Toilet Paper?
To add to Terry and Darren's suggestions, I wanted to insist on the fact that modern bidet attachments are available and easily installable on a sitting water toilet without major modification.
This ...
- 3,212
6
votes
Alternative to Toilet Paper?
The Romans of antiquity used a sponge on a stick. The sponge can be washed in a bucket with water and soap or eco friendly detergent.
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6
votes
Is there a shaving razor that is an alternative to, say, Gillette Mach 3, and does not use plastic ?
I'm an energy consultant - I'm also aware of the environmental impacts of plastic - however; I still have to ask, what is the issue with plastic?
The only thing more sustainable than plastic is SOME ...
- 496
6
votes
Oxyhydrogen as home heating method
You will always put more energy into generating this gas mixture than you will get back by burning it. The second law of thermodynamics (which for this context can simply be thought of as saying that ...
- 3,601
6
votes
What is the most sustainable choice to write on a whiteboard?
So far the best alternative that I've found is to use a refillable marker. I bought one of these a week ago with a bottle of ink. The marker is not made of plastic (I would say it is made of aluminium)...
- 1,482
6
votes
Accepted
How much, if any, does resolution effect the net power consumption of watching online video?
The Natural Resources Defense Council commissioned a study in late 2015 to understand the energy consumption from 4K TVs, titled The Big Picture: Ultra High-Definition Televisions Could Add $1 Billion ...
- 11.2k
5
votes
Are there any more sustainable alternatives to conventional commercial toothpaste?
You should look at the corporate responsibility of the companies who make toothpaste.
Some will be better than others and you can be sure that many will be incentive by both government tax schemes and ...
- 496
5
votes
Alternative to paper towels for draining fried food?
I have not found much of an alternative to paper towels, but you could at least try the following:
Drain food that has been deep fried on a wire rack. Only after this use paper towel to soak up ...
- 111
5
votes
Accepted
Hotel communal living
Since you don't indicate in which country you're thinking of implementing this plan, I'm going to write from my perspective in the US, considering chain hotels (Marriot, Holiday Inn, Hilton,, etc) ...
- 11.2k
4
votes
Alternative to Toilet Paper?
When my daughter was in diapers, we used cloth wipes for her. I bought them online, but pretty much any small piece of cloth will do. I would wet it with a spray bottle of water or a wipes solution to ...
- 241
4
votes
What are the natural alternatives for toothpaste?
The alternative of toothpaste and toothbrush, that people still use in country parts in India.
Branches of following trees Prosopis juliflora tree and Azadirachta indica tree.
See Wikipedia ...
- 140
4
votes
Solar Panel short section of string due to obstacle
You must open circuit the panels you're not using, do not short circuit them. Open circuit is fine, the panel just sits there and no current flows. You'll see quite a high voltage on the terminals (it'...
- 3,755
4
votes
What are the natural alternatives for toothpaste?
As a retired dentist with 30+ years of practice experience I have some input here. This will be a very controversial statement:
Toothpaste is NOT essential to good oral hygiene!!!
Just routine (...
- 161
4
votes
Alternatives to garbage plastic bags
Long before plastic bags became ubiquitous, stores provided customers with paper bags. It was also a time when people used to read hard copy newspapers as their main source of news. To utilize the ...
- 3,152
4
votes
Is flushing dog faeces down the lavatory better than bagging and binning them?
Flushing down the toilet is a lot better than have it end up in a city dump where it will remain as long as the bag that contains it lasts.
You can purchase dedicated pet waste composting units or ...
- 698
3
votes
What are the natural alternatives for toothpaste?
Here's an instructional video on making toothpaste with the primary ingredient being diatomaceous earth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRnjmDIRmqM
The recipe, as identified in the video, is as ...
- 248
3
votes
How do word processing on a laptop and writing with pen and paper stack up sustainability-wise?
OK, writing on a used piece of paper is hard to beat. Because you own the laptop already and the paper is from the waste I would say the remaining factors are the pencil vs. the energy and the ...
- 61
3
votes
Oxyhydrogen as home heating method
It is appealing to use wind or PV whenever they are available, and to have heating when it is required - and something is required to help those align in time.
Using the energy to synthesise storable ...
- 14.6k
3
votes
Tea tree oil and water organisms
I know that tea tree oil is poisonous when ingested, just like you said, but it is also toxic for animals upon contact. It must go into the blood stream by penetrating the skin. Because it exists in ...
- 156
3
votes
Alternative to Toilet Paper?
I live in Korea and we have a bidet toilet seat. I was wary at first, but now I'm a complete convert. Paper just cannot clean as well. There are a few varieties of bidet toilet attachments, but they ...
- 141
3
votes
Alternative to Toilet Paper?
In more outhouse oriented times, folk would use old corn cobs. Giving us the expression 'corn-hole'
- 365
3
votes
Are there any more sustainable alternatives to conventional commercial toothpaste?
Ayurveda, an ancient science of life, food, medicine & healing and sister science to Yoga, provides these suggestions:
Datun / Datoon can made from plant stems
Dant Manjan / Herbal Tooth Powder ...
- 346
3
votes
Organic or Homemade equivalent White board Cleaning liquid & scrub?
I use lab alcohol for the ones in work. You need a solvent to free up the inks. At home I'd use methylated spirits (alcohol stove fuel). Flambe alcohol might work. You could test some vodka but the ...
- 2,037
3
votes
Organic & natural (maybe edible) alternatives for Pre Shaving cream, foam, oil etc?
There are a few recipes available out there. Most of those that I have seen are oil based and the ingredients that they use are very easy to buy (at least where I live). I will give you an example ...
- 1,482
3
votes
What is a low-toxic way to kill yellow Jackets?
I personally use a combination of d-limonene & borax.
First, borax is a natural occurring salt from lake beds and d-limonene is basically just orange oil, a solvent.
Mix the two together and ...
3
votes
What are ideas to change the advertising system towards sustainability?
The issue is not advertising per se, but what drives it. In a capitalist system, businesses pursue higher revenues and lower costs in order to maximize profits. Advertising is a part of this system ...
- 11.2k
3
votes
What are ideas to change the advertising system towards sustainability?
This is a complex issue and one that's hard to address succinctly. It gets into the larger matter of media and its role and interaction with society, which is profound. This includes political and ...
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible