I’m giving up plastic in 2019, and just yesterday, I ran out of deodorant! According to the 2017 census, there are currently 247,813,910 adults living in the United States. If the average American adult uses 10 deodorant sticks a year, we’d be throwing 2,478,139,100 empty deodorant applicators into the garbage dumps. Even if we did recycle them, they present an added challenge because deodorant applicators are mixed material items – items that contain different kinds of plastic (such as the dial on the bottom of the tube, the plastic insert that moves the deodorant stick up and down, the cap, and the protective insert that you removed before you started using the product). Not all these “parts” are labeled with a resin identification code so it may be difficult to tell whether your local trash company will (attempt to) recycle them, and can result in a contaminated batch or recycle stream, which can cost cities 1,000s of dollars. So… I’m currently in search of an alternative with more sustainable packaging. I’ve found 3 options to try next week:
- Kaiame Natural Deodorant: fairly good ratings on smile.amazon.com (when you purchase your items at Amazon Smile, a % of your $ will go to the charity of your choice), and I love their packaging! Appears to be a glass jar with a metal lid – totally sustainable! Yay!
2. Primal Pit Paste: Also has fairly good ratings, so I’m inclined to try both and see which actually works. Their packaging doesn’t appear to be as sustainable as the cap appears to be… duh duh duh…. PLASTIC! The jar is glass, and it’s still 2018 (not officially in my non-plastic buying mode yet) so I’m going to indulge myself with this product to see if it lives up to its good reviews in my pits!
3. DIY “no-waste” options: After watching a most entertaining account of one woman’s attempt at using her own DIY zero-waste deodorant in a very hot climate, she revealed an intriguing option: LEMONS!! So guess who will be slapping some lemon juice in her pits tomorrow morning?? 😀 Apparently this works surprisingly well in the Thailand heat, so I’m inclined to give it a shot!
I’ll keep you posted as I “pit” these deodorant options against each other!
Cindy
Grateful for the Ride 