Support local businesses and try to stay away from big corporations that dominate the market, such as Amazon. Try to understand where your product comes from and what it took to get to you (farmed, picked, packed, manufactured, shipped, etc). You might be thinking sustainably by buying a metal straw, but if it’s being flown over from China, is that the most sustainable option? Is there somewhere more local you could find the same product?
Some of the favourite places to shop plastic-free (all available online):
- Package Free Shop (USA) –– Everything from stainless steel razors to shopping bags.
- Lush (Australia) –– Specialise in bathroom products such as shampoo & conditioner bars, body wash. ALL vegan and cruelty-free!
- OceanBee (Australian-based local business that ships worldwide) –– Specialise in organic beeswax wraps, cotton bags, stainless steel straws, keep cups, etc
- Asia: Zero Waste ID (Indonesia’s online-based store), Edgar (Hong Kong), Zero Waste Vietnam, and Eco.Le (Singapore).
- Europe: Unverpackt (DE), Mass-Grasslerei (AT), Granel (ES), Unpackaged (UK), Effecorta (IT), and Zero Waste Shop EU (online-based).
Some things that I recently learnt can be detrimental to the environment: glitter and sunscreen. Glitter is actually made of plastic and considered a microplastic (read more here). All that waste left over from Mardi-Gras or Coachella suddenly doesn’t look so pretty, does it?
Here are some places you can buy biodegradable glitter and keep on shining:
![](https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/ZuM_A0W9EoKnHoG3JdnV9ysCbR4oNqzVhv_WXh2urgRxmd_tNwCZeH8V5zxcBd_igrdQt1KcZAUT4aaTVginLgjcszBJYh6G8oH8L21tDRXL6VOcfFaS6sdT3Q-RO_5vFA3iCXz0WDd9lfvS4Q)