PULP RANKED: Some reusable products you might not have considered before…

By Jocelin Chan

With growing awareness about the detrimental effects of single-use plastic waste, a bunch of reusable and waste-free products are gaining popularity. And for good reason: we produce nearly 300 million tons of plastic waste per year, 8 million tons of which find their way into our oceans per year. It’s important, therefore, for us to reduce our impact as much as possible. We all know about reusable drink bottles, shopping bags, and Keep Cups. But if you’re interested in some more unusual waste-free products, here’s a list of things you might not have considered before.

Fountain pens

Although pens are declining in popularity somewhat, we can’t really live without them—there are always shopping lists to write, drawings to doodle, or exams to complete. But biros create a ton of plastic waste, and people throw out a good many a year. There are a few refillable pens available, but fountain pens are the best for those who want to go waste-free. Unlike Muji refillable gel pens or rollerball pens, fountain pens don’t need to be refilled with cartridges. Each cartridge creates waste too, after all. Fountain pens, however, can be refilled directly from an ink bottle.

Fountain pens have a reputation for being fancy and expensive, but you can buy cheap ones from brands like Pilot. Ultimately, it’s still cheaper than buying new pens or refill cartridges.

Tea infusers

Avid tea drinkers will probably already own tea infusers, but more casual drinkers should also make the switch from teabags to tea leaves. Snobbishness aside, teabags use a ridiculous amount of packaging for one teaspoon of leaf (consider the mesh bag, the tag, the staple, and the string), and the bag is actually laced with plastic to stop it from melting into the water.

If you’re interested in buying an infuser, look for one that doesn’t have little fiddly parts that you have to slide open and closed, as they break easily. The novelty ones actually tend to avoid this.

PRO TIP: When you’re emptying your infuser, tip as much as you can into the compost after it cools down. Wait for it to dry, and then shake out the remaining leaves. Much easier than scooping out the wet leaves!

Straws

Across the globe, we use about half a billion disposable straws a day. They became a topic of contention when a movement rose to ban single-use plastic ones and replace them with biodegradable or reusable alternatives. Disability advocates were particularly concerned that these alternatives would be problematic for some people with disabilities to use, since single-use plastic straws could bend and wouldn’t conduct heat. But there are now a great variety of reusable straws available, from glass and steel to silicone. Some are even designed with a bend! As for the one I’ve got, it’s wide enough for bubble tea pearls.

Of course, these alternatives may not be suitable for everyone but if you’re interested, there’s quite a few varieties that you can consider. You’ll just have to remember to rinse them after your drink, and pop them back into your bag from the next time.

Tupperware

It’s always handy to take a Tupperware box with you when you go out to eat. Aside from putting your own lunch in it, you can put leftovers from a restaurant in it instead of asking for a takeaway box (and maybe save 50c). If you’re buying food to take away or at eateries that use disposable packaging, you can ask the servers to put your food in the Tupperware as well.

I have a collapsible silicone one that is lightweight and portable. However, there are some plastic-free alternatives available as well, like bamboo fibre. Or you could just steal your mum’s.

Menstrual cups

If you’ve ever thought of replacing your tampons with a menstrual cup, it’s a great time to give it a go now that there’s no “tampon tax” any more. Buying one from a reputable brand can be a little pricey, so not having to pay GST on top is a welcome discount. Instead of throwing out a pile of tampons every time you have a period, you can reduce your waste and also understand your bodily functions better.

There are many oft-discussed pros (aside from the reduced environmental impact) to using menstrual cups: there have only been two cases of menstrual cup users getting toxic shock syndrome (TSS), you can leave your cup in for up to 12 hours, and it’s much cheaper than buying disposable products. But there are also downsides. It’s pretty messy to remove, and on heavier-flow days you need to empty the blood more regularly than every 12 hours. Do your research before you decide!

Still, if you’d like to start using them, make sure to buy one from a trusted brand as the silicone needs to be medical grade to be inside your body.

Food covers/wrappers

Instead of using cling wrap you can preserve and cover your food with reusable alternatives (that won’t stick to themselves and force you to flatten them back out). Beeswax wraps are popular, and are pieces of cotton covered in beeswax which can be used to wrap food or cover bowls and plates. Using the heat from your hands, you can mould the wax over whatever you’re covering. They are a little pricey, so you can also DIY your own by covering a piece of cloth with melted beeswax. But if beeswax isn’t your jam, you can also buy silicone covers which look a bit like a hat for your bowls.

Face masks

I’m spruiking this final product in a dual attempt to not only make people consider waste-free options, but also cover their damn faces when they’re sick. Since the 2003 SARS outbreak in Hong Kong, East Asians have formed a habit of wearing surgical masks when they’re sick and out in public. Reusable, washable cloth versions (which looked a bit more fashionable) appeared soon after.

To my deepest regret, the habit hasn’t quite kicked off in Australia. But since that you can buy these reusable face masks, you can no longer use your concern for the environment as an excuse spread your germs everywhere. I, for one, will be an eager trendsetter when flu season swings round.

If you’re looking to replace some disposable items with reusable alternatives, keep in mind that it’s still better to reuse, repurpose, buy second-hand, or simply consume less stuff if possible. Still, though individual action can’t end plastic waste—for that, we’ll need governments and companies to contribute too—every bit of single-use plastic we don’t consume is one less item that will spend 1000 years in landfill. Let’s start changing our habits for the better.