If you’re an eco-warrior, you may try to limit your shower time in an attempt to conserve water, and you were probably avoiding products such as microbeads well before the ban was enforced. But ensuring our showers are clean for both us and the environment isn’t as simple as it may seem. Of course, shaving off a couple of minutes and keeping the temperature at a reasonable level will help, but the products we take in the shower with us are having a surprising, but detrimental impact on the environment.
Let’s start off with the obvious — plastic. If you’re the type of person who has a separate shampoo, conditioner and shower gel — like most of us — your plastic footprint will be piling up. A study from Environmental Science and Technology (pubs.acs.org) revealed that liquid soaps produce 25 per cent more carbon dioxide than solid bars, while requiring 20 times more packaging and five times more energy. Solid bars of soap, shampoo and conditioner will not only be lighter, they’ll take up less room in transportation trucks, meaning more can be carried in the same amount of space. However, some solid bars may include chemicals and oils that aren’t eco-friendly, so it’s important to shop around and ensure that you only purchase ethical, cruelty-free products.