While they might appear to have a low carbon footprint (paper breaks down, right?), en masse the average US household consumes 80 rolls of paper towels per year. That all adds up, especially with most of it ending up in landfill.   

Your house is full of free alternatives you probably haven’t noticed before. That shirt that’s ready for the bin (but you don’t want to send to landfill) is the perfect candidate. Cut it into rectangles, or go one step further to create your own sturdy DIY towels that can be rewashed and used again and again. If you don’t have unwanted fabric at home, you can opt for these knitted organic cotton dishcloths that are super absorbent and ideal for scrubbing tougher marks.  

If you are particularly wedded to the paper towel experience, you can buy a biodegradable dishcloth that is washable and feels similar to paper towel when wet, or a compostable sponge and scourer option perfect for washing dirty dishes. 

How many different cleaning agents are in your cupboard right now? The average family will accumulate more than 30 bottles of cleaning supplies annually; that’s more than one bottle every two weeks. Most of those use single-use plastic. But, multipurpose cleaners are making it easy to cut back on product and money (making your life 10x easier).

Koh’s universal cleaner does the job of multiple products by tackling dirt, grease and grime on every household surface. It also comes in a large 4L container so you can easily refill your reusable spray bottles. Keeping on the refillable train, Zero Co’s multipurpose cleaner comes with a bottle and refill pouches which are made from recycled materials diverted from landfill. Plus, it throws in a postage-paid return mailer so you can send the pouches back for free to be cleaned, refilled and reused.

According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, more than 90 per cent of a typical bottle of cleaning product is simply water. So, why not just add your own at home? That’s what Ethique wants you to do with its concentrate bars, which save around 700ml of water and a plastic bottle from being manufactured. All you need to do is snap the bar into small pieces, add water, whisk and pour into a reusable bottle.  

Other brands with noteworthy concentrates include CHANGE and Pleasant State. CHANGE’s dissolvable tablets are one of the most cost-effective multipurpose cleaners out there, coming in at under $2 a refill. Plus it offers an essentials cleaning kit with everything you’ll need for under $50. Pleasant State’s waste-free and non-toxic cleaning bars won a Clean + Conscious award last year and they no doubt got brownie points for their amazing Australian lemon myrtle scent.