Most of all of the plastic ever produced festers in our landfills and is clogging up the oceans in garbage patches like ‘The Great Pacific Garbage Patch’. It cannot be overstated that a lot of plastic also ends up in the stomachs of our animals.
Americans alone, reportedly, are responsible for generating over 70 million tonnes of packaging waste every year. Indians are known to only use nearly one-tenth of the amount of plastic used by an American.
A 2013 report by the Central Pollution Control Board states that approximately eight million tonnes of plastic products are consumed every year (the figure might have gone up since the publication of the report). To top that, as per the same report, nearly 70 per cent of plastic packaging is converted into waste. It then becomes part of the 5.6 million tonnes per annum of plastic waste generated every year.
Among the most ubiquitous of such packaging is found in our daily use hygiene products such as soaps and shampoos. Though one wrapper of soap or one bottle of shampoo might not seem to matter, it can definitely make a difference when multiplied by over a billion people, who live in India and who comprise one-seventh of the world’s population.
It is with this awareness that several multi-national commercial soap giants have taken up resolutions to include biodegradable or recyclable packaging. Why wait for them, especially since most commercial soaps are not biodegradable and add to water pollution, apart from land pollution.
Why not make your own soap? It can be fun. However, if you don’t have the time or the energy, here’s a list of some eco-friendly, up and coming locally-made soaps (there are more) with sustainable packaging that you can switch to (and some intriguing alternatives).
Juicy Chemistry
This Coimbatore-based skincare brand is not just all-natural, it is also a certified organic(ECOCERT GREENLIFE under COSMOS Standard) product that uses certified cold-pressed oils, essential oils and refined butters to make its cold process soap.
“We add fresh botanicals in each soap, depending on the healing property we are looking for. If we are making an anti-ageing soap, for instance, we use fresh, cold-pressed carrot juice. If we are making an anti-acne soap, we use fresh, cold-pressed neem juice. Our soaps are handcrafted gourmet skin bars with absolutely no chemical or synthetic additives, or even fragrances,” says Megha Asher, the label’s cofounder. Juicy Chemistry offers a variety of soap bars for different skin types and skin conditions.
Here’s the best part: they package their soaps in bamboo pouches that are locally handwoven. They also have shampoo bars and offer handcrafted soap dishes that are complimentary with purchases of over four soaps. Visit juicychemistry.com . (Price: Rs 320 onwards)
Ilana Organics
If the idea of an apple cider vinegar, beer or chamomile mint shampoo bar; or a hibiscus rose, orange grapefruit or coffee oatmeal soap bar sounds intriguing, Ilana Organics might be the way to go. They use vegan oils and a simple saponification process with customized oil bases for different kinds of skincare/haircare properties (no palm oil, since it is a major contributor to deforestation). Ilana follows the naked packaging approach where the soaps are covered in just a thin strip of recycled paper or kora cotton that carries a label, identifying the kind of soap.
“Plastic restricts the breathability of cold process soaps,” says Pune-based Ilana’s founder-creative director Nikita Deshpande. Visit ilana.shop. (Price: Rs 250 onwards)
Do Bandar
This Bengaluru-based label offers cold process soaps (apart from other skincare products) wrapped in banana fibre paper. They use one hundred per cent natural base oils including coconut and castor oil, cocoa butter, mango butter or kokum butter. “We use only indigenous ingredients such as tulsi or tumeric. Our essential oils, even our lavender oil, is sourced in India. We work in consultation with Ayurvedic doctors to help determine the benefits of Indian ingredients, though we also conduct our own research. We try and stick to traditional recipes,” says Do Bandar’s cofounder Mayura Kadur. They are now working on a range of shampoo bars. Visit dobandar.in . (Price: Rs 200 onwards)
Make your own soap
Bengaluru-based Soapsmith by Priya Mariswamy offers one-day workshops on soap-making (cold process, hot process; and melt and pour). Her workshops enable participants to make all-natural soaps from scratch. These, too, are oil-based soaps with herbal infusions and essential oils.
“Participants choose their ingredients based on their needs, I also teach them how to infuse fresh fruit or vegetables juices depending on their healing properties. Even our melt and pour soaps, which use ready-made bases are much healthier than commercial soaps. The workshops include a theory session because there is a lot of science involved,” says Priya.
Though the actual soap-making processs takes only 30 to 45 minutes, the reaction (saponification) takes anywhere between four to eight weeks to complete and so the workshop then extends over Whatsapp. “The advantage of making your own soap is that you have complete control over what you are putting in, including the packaging.” She encourages participants to minimize packaging and restrict it to paper, even more so because cold-processed soaps flourish when they are open to air. These soaps are also biodegradable and safe to use, even for babies, because of the natural oil-base. Call 09886468221
The age-old concept of bath powder/dry shampoo
Even today, most of our grandmothers use a combination of green gram flour and turmeric, often supplemented by dried vetiver, rose petals or orange peels, as an everyday scrub or as a replacement for soap. They probably use a shikakai/reetha based poweder infused with the goodness of hibiscus for their hair, which is probably why most of them retain their (soft) hair.
These age-old secrets have been passed down generations, smell earthy and soothing, and are packed with medicinal properties. They are still available in pockets in shops that sell indigenous medicines or medicinal herbs, including the famous Dabba Chetty shop in Chennai’s iconic Mylapore neighbourhood. Dabba Chetty sells readymade bathing powders (for skin and hair) which probably costs a fraction of the price you are willing to pay for that dry shampoo (exotic as it may sound) and lasts months. Want to know more? Find out from Dabba Chetty’s present proprietor K Badrinath 04424985125 . You can also make these by yourself at home, just ask grandma!
