19 Practical Eco-Friendly Products for Everyday Life

You might not think oral hygiene can help the environment but Brush With Bamboo begs to differ with their innovative toothbrushes. The "World's Most Eco-Friendly Bamboo Toothbrushes" feature compostable handles and bristles, and the packaging is recyclable too. The USDA Certified 100% biobased bristles are made from castor oil and are generally medium-soft, and a stalk of Moso bamboo is planted for each one taken to make the handles. These toothbrushes are vegan, free of animal testing and come in adult and children sizes.

With this simple product, you can enjoy the convenience of single-serve coffee pods without the waste. Uncommon Coffee Roasters created the first 100% compostable pod on the market, using plant-based materials that will completely biodegrade within just 90 days in your compost pile. Even their packaging is green — featuring a 100% recyclable outer box and a compostable inner sleeve.

Our daily showers can waste an incredible amount of water, but High Sierra’s innovative take on low-flow technology is here to change all that. Their nozzles use 40% less water than even other low-flow showerheads, without the clogging problems that often accompany them. And for people with septic systems, High Sierra’s technology often gives better water pressure than conventional nozzles. This is another eco-friendly product made here in the U.S., so you can feel good about supporting local jobs while you reduce your water footprint.

Shea Moisture’s line of hair products keeps our water supply clean with shampoos, conditioners, mousses and dyes that contain none of the petroleum, parabens and other harmful chemical usually found in other products. Instead, they use all natural, organic ingredients that are sustainably produced, fairly traded and never tested on animals. Shea Moisture has been creating healthy, eco-friendly products since 1912, when it began life as a one-woman home-based business in Bonthe, Sierra Leone. Today, the company supports minority women-led businesses through its Community Commerce program.

The bathroom is — pun absolutely intended — a pretty wasteful place. But it doesn’t have to be. Green Forest Paper’s toilet paper and tissues are made entirely from recycled paper — even the cardboard rolls are 100% recycled. They don’t use toxic bleach for whitening, and since recycled paper has shorter fibers, it breaks down faster in septic systems. Green Forest Paper’s environmental cred even extends to the outer packaging of their products, which can be dropped off anywhere you recycle plastic grocery bags.

If you’ve already started composting , the kitchen bins at Full Circle will make collecting your scraps much easier. Each bin is small enough to fit right on your kitchen counter so it’s always in reach as you’re chopping veggies or cleaning up after a meal. And you won’t have to worry about odor — these bins are designed to allow air flow so that scraps begin decomposing without any funk.

Klean Kanteen created the original stainless steel water bottle back in 2004 and today you can turn to them for whatever liquid you need to tote. Whether it’s an insulated tumbler to keep your morning coffee hot or a growler for your favorite beer, you’ll find sleek containers made from long-lasting, food-safe stainless steel you can reuse for years. Even better, many of their lid types are interchangeable, so you can buy one or two bottles but switch out the lids to use them in different ways.

Thanks to California-based Green Toys, you can give the environment a gift every time you buy one for your kids. From trucks to teething rings to tea sets, Green Toys creates playtime favorites using nothing but recycled milk jugs and earth-friendly dyes. And since they include no mixed materials, you can easily recycle them curbside when your kids outgrow them. As socially responsible as they are sustainable, Green Toys manufactures everything here in the U.S., so they can ensure worker safety and monitor their environmental impact.

We all want our clothes to be soft and comfy, but most fabric softeners are a cocktail of chemicals that aren’t safe for the environment and may be unhealthy for humans too. That’s why Molly Suds created a reusable wool dryer ball to soften clothes naturally. A single three-pack will easily see you through 1,000 loads. That’s about three years’ worth of laundry, so not only will you be reducing your use of harmful chemicals, you’ll be saving money while you do it! And when your dryer balls finally do wear out, you can compost them.

Molly Suds was created by a pediatric nurse concerned about mounting research that chemicals in our cleaning products can affect fetal development. Your own family can now enjoy the safer, greener products she created to keep her own family healthy.

Caring for your pets can get messy, but with Ecos’ line of pet supplies, you’ll find everything from stain and odor removers to cage cleaners formulated from sustainably sourced ingredients without any harmful chemicals, synthetics or dyes. Products like their pet wipes are biodegradable, while liquid cleaners are made safe for septic or grey water systems to prevent water pollution. On top of all that, Ecos manufactures their products using 100% renewable energy while diverting 95% of their waste from landfills.

With Grab Green’s line of eco-friendly laundry products, you can clean your clothes without dirtying our water supply. Their detergent pods and powders contain no dyes, chlorine, phosphates or phthalates — chemicals which can be harmful to the environment and in some cases may be unhealthy for humans too. To greenify the entire laundry process, you can also buy dryer sheets that can be reused for multiple loads, then composted when they wear out. Grab Green also works hard to use minimal, recyclable packaging and to source their materials sustainably.

Urban Clothesline makes it easy to air-dry your clothing no matter where you live or how much space you have to work with. From umbrella-style clotheslines you can set up in a big backyard to retractable models perfect for small spaces, Urban Clothesline merges time-honored technology with modern aesthetics to help you save both energy and money. In fact, you won’t just save on your electric bill: when they’re not being pummeled in a dryer every week, your clothes can go much longer without fading or showing wear.