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I’m super excited to partner with Grove Collaborative today – I’ve been using them for the past few months and it’s true love! And I’ve got 10 easy sustainable swaps for your house to make safer choices for your family and the planet.
I definitely had a few questions before I used Grove so I wanted to share those here + share a handful (or two!) of EASY ways we’ve changed our household to one that’s a little more sustainable and environmentally friendly.
What Is Grove Collaborative?
Grove Collaborative is a personalized delivery subscription service that delivers household, beauty, personal care, baby & kids, and pet products to your home.
Every single thing on their website meets their standards for being effective, sustainable, and cruelty-free. Grove carries brands you probably already buy and love – Seventh Generation, Method, Mrs. Meyers, Zarbees, Babyganics, Burt’s Bees, Yes To – and also Grove exclusive products.
There’s a 100% satisfaction guarantee (if you don’t like something they’ll send you a pre-paid shipping label!) and a price match guarantee. They also offset any carbon emissions from shipping which is super cool.
It’s free to sign up and with a $20 purchase (of stuff you’re already buying somewhere else!) you get a free gift that includes 5 Sustainable Swaps – a refillable Grove Glass Hand Soap Dispenser, Grove Hand Soap Pouch, Grove Walnut Scrubber Sponges, Grove Reusable Sandwich Bags, and Grove Bamboo Straws – AND a 60 day VIP membership.
After the 60 days, your VIP membership is $19.99/year and the perks include free shipping on any order, 4 free gifts/year, and lower “Ship Now” order minimums ($20 vs $30).
Full disclosure: the way that Grove works is that once you place your first order, you’re automatically enrolled in their auto-ship service, where they put items they think you’ll like/want into your cart. A few days before the shipment, you’ll get an email summarizing your cart for you to review – this is when and where you can edit your cart, change the shipping date, or skip the month. So, if you aren’t in love with the idea of an auto-shipment, set a flag to float the email to the top of your inbox whenever you get an email from Grove.
Grove is also a certified B Corp, which means they meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose.
10 Easy Sustainable Swaps for Your Home
Honestly, it can be overwhelming to make your home more green and sustainable, but I’ve found some easy ways to be a little more environmentally friendly and found some products from Grove that make it really simple.
ONE // Reusable Soap in Glass Jars – these are both part of the free gift with a $20 purchase and they’re an easy way to use less plastic. The reusable glass dispenser means no more plastic soap bottles and the soap refill Grove offers has 50% less plastic than a typical disposable soap bottle AND it includes 3 refills per bag.
TWO // Go natural on the sponges/scrubbers – another part of the free gift, the Walnut Sponges are a sustainable alternative to traditional synthetic sponges (bonus that they work really well + look really pretty on your counter!).
THREE // Switch to refillable glass bottles with cleaning spray made from a concentrate + water – we’ve been using the all-purpose version from this set and I LOVE it – you just dump it in the glass bottle and add water. It works on ceramic, chrome, concrete, granite, and stainless steel so it’s great for kitchens & bathrooms.
FOUR // BYOS – Bring Your Own Straw. I was *shocked* to learn that there are 500 million straws used EVERY SINGLE DAY in the US. That’s insane. Easy solution is to toss your own in your bag – bamboo straws in a carrying bag (part of the free gift!) are easy and sturdier than silicone if you want a straw that’s going to be able to stir your beverage.
FIVE // Make the transition to more sustainable paper products (toilet paper, paper towels, and tissues) – Grove has an exclusive tree-free brand called Seedling, which uses bamboo (a grass!) and sugarcane versus regular trees which is way more sustainable. I’ve been really impressed with the quality and softness!
SIX // Use reusable lunch and snack bags – plastic ziplock bags get tossed but reusable lunch and snack bags are around for the long haul + better for the environment. I promise they’re not a huge pain to wash, either.
SEVEN // Use compostable cutlery vs plastic – I 100% understand needing to use disposable cutlery sometimes (hi, #momlife) so I was excited to see these on Grove’s website. Perfect for the holidays coming up!
EIGHT // Try bamboo bandages – I had never thought about the fact that traditional bandaids are mostly plastic which means they’ll never biodegrade. This brand is super cool and made of bamboo so they’re biodegradable and the patterns are darling, too!
NINE // BYOB – a little different than bringing your own straw, another way to combat excess waste is to bring your own water bottle to restaurants. I’ve started bringing the kids water bottles to restaurants especially because kids’ drinks tend to go into plastic or styrofoam cups with plastic lids. Plus if you bring water, your kids drink water. It’s an easy swap, promise!
TEN // Make a HUGE effort to use reusable shopping bags vs plastic bags. I’m honestly always working at this (not sure why remembering them is so hard for me!?) but it’s a little change that makes a big difference.
AMBER SAPOFF says
I am very interested in doing the switch and loved how detailed this article was but with all these products, are they recyclable? Meaning, the packaging they come in, is that something I can recycle?