Last year I put together a list of my favorite low-waste swaps of 2019 and it was one of my most popular blog posts of the year! Since I tried quite a few new low-waste swaps in 2020 I wanted to share a similar post this year. In classic 2020 fashion, many of these swaps are pandemic-related, but since it seems like Covid isn’t going anywhere anytime soon hopefully these swaps are helpful for you over the next few months, too.

this post contains affiliate links. all opinions are my own.

Dropps Laundry & Dish Pods

Laundry was one of the areas where I’ve made a lot of greenwashed swaps in the past — “natural” laundry detergent that still came in a big plastic container, “clean” detergent that again still came in a big plastic container, or just sharing tide pods with my roommates. I even used a dryer sheet here and there. I switched to Dropps laundry detergent pods in August and have not looked back even once. The minimal packaging is great, I love that Dropps has carbon neutral shipping for all of their products, and I love that I found a sustainable pod option! Though I don’t have a dishwasher in my own apartment, my parents have been enjoying Dropps dishwasher pods. I left a few boxes with my parents and my dad loved the packaging so much he reordered some on his own! I also appreciate that Dropps is reasonably priced – as low as 22 cents per load of laundry.

Shop Dropps here & get 25% off your order with Megan25.

Spring & Vine Shampoo Bars

I ran out of my last shampoo bar over the summer and felt completely stuck. Normally I could visit the store in person and pick it out package-free, but since this store and other specialty stores that sold shampoo bars in my area were closed and I didn’t quite want to buy a single shampoo bar online, I looked for other options. After surviving off the last bottle of shampoo I had floating around my apartment and trying a shampoo bar from a local grocery store that made my hair greasy beyond belief, I found Spring & Vine shampoo bars at Target. They aren’t 100% plastic free – the bar is wrapped in plastic inside the cardboard box – but they still create less waste than traditional bottles of shampoo and are work really well with my hair! I also know I’m lucky to have options for shopping for sustainable products like this in Los Angeles in non-Covid times so I love that these shampoo bars are available at Target.

Read my blog post with a full review and more product information here. Shop them at Target here.

Reel Bamboo Toilet Paper

Talk about a perfectly timed pre-pandemic purchase. I’ve been using Who Gives A Crap recycled toilet paper for a few years and my last box was delivered about a week before everything went into lockdown in LA. I decided to give Reel a try after I finished up my WGAC, not only to switch things up but also to support a Black-owned business, which means I did not spend any time in 2020 worrying about finding toilet paper. phew. Though I loved WGAC I like Reel toilet paper better. WGAC’s lower quality recycled toilet paper is the same price as Reel’s bamboo toilet paper. Reel is much higher quality, thicker, easier to tear between pieces, and even seems to last longer. Both businesses have a charitable give back program and similar company missions, so you really can’t go wrong with either one!

Check out Who Gives A Crap here, and check out Reel here. **both companies also have sustainable paper towels

Imperfect Foods

I’ve used Imperfect Foods sparingly over the past two years but this year it especially came in handy during the pandemic. I’ve been extremely cautious and try to limit my trips to the grocery store, and when the lines were long to get into Trader Joes I had to go to Target for my groceries where there were significantly less package-free and fresh fruit & vegetable options. I got an Imperfect Foods box delivered every other week and could get pretty much everything on my list (except for gluten free bread) – package free produce, canned goods, and even kombucha. I will say Imperfect Foods isn’t a *perfect* solution for grocery shopping – I would much rather go to farmer’s markets and local co-ops, but this has been an amazing option during the pandemic and was very convenient while I was a college student.

Get $10 off your first Imperfect order here.

Making My Own Oat Milk

@acteevism

how to make your own oat milk (so you don’t have to buy from Oatly anymore) ##oatmilk ##oatly ##veganrecipe ##veganmilk

♬ Skate – Trees and Lucy

This last one is more of a DIY and less of a swap, but making my own oat milk this year has been a fun project and has saved me a lot of money! I don’t need milk that often (I really only use it to make mac and cheese every few weeks) so buying a whole big carton of oat milk for that one use didn’t make sense: it would be expensive and wasteful! It also came in handy during the pandemic – it was one less thing I had to buy at a grocery store! Oat milk is incredibly easy to make – all you need are oats, water, a strainer, and a blender of some kind. No overnight soaking required! I bought a big canister of gluten free oats last year and am still working through it.

See how I make my oat milk above.