Our Top 15 Favorite Zero Waste Products Swaps
The Mercantile Carries Zero Waste Products
New Year, Less Waste. The Mercantile’s 2020 goal is to provide our customers with zero-waste products. As a retail store, we feel it is important to offer our community earth-friendly, zero waste product replacements. We want to offer more sustainable and reusable products. Think of The Mercantile as Rock Hill’s one and only zero waste shop. You’re probably wondering, ”what can I buy that is zero waste?” Here are 15 sustainable zero waste product replacements for everyday items. As Rock Hill’s premier zero waste shop, you can find plenty of zero waste tips for exchanging items you use every day with more earth-friendly products.
1. BAMBOO TRUTHBRUSH – ZERO WASTE TOOTHBRUSH
Every plastic toothbrush ever created still exists since its invention in the 1930s. Isn’t that mind-boggling? Every year over a billion plastic toothbrushes are thrown away worldwide, ending up in landfills, in the sea or washed up on a beach.
Using toothbrushes with a biodegradable handle is a small change but together we can make a big difference.
The Mercantile carries the Bamboo Truthbrush at the Zero Waste Bar. Our bamboo toothbrushes are sustainably produced from natural bamboo and carbon neutral. We carry children sized toothbrushes as well.
2. WET IT! CLOTH – ZERO WASTE “PAPER TOWELS”
Say goodbye to paper towels in 2020. Upgrade to a much more effective and sustainable zero waste product this year. Wet it! towels are a great replacement for paper towels, and they’re much cuter. Wet-it cloths are designed to absorb like a sponge and wipe like a cloth. They are extremely versatile, stylish, reusable, sustainable, biodegradable and compostable all-in-one!
The Mercantile carries Wet it! Cloths. These cloths are made of high-grade cotton and cellulose pulp. Their special weave makes them highly absorbent, holding up to 16x their weight in liquid.
3. MULTI-PURPOSE & GRANITE CLEANER – ZERO WASTE CLEANER
The Mercantile carries a Multi-Purpose household cleaner as well as Granite Cleaner at the Zero Waste Bar. Our cleaners come in a glass, refillable containers. Pick up your bottle of concentrated cleaner today. Add water when you get home, and when you run out of cleaner, come back into the store for a $3 refill!
4. BIODEGRADABLE FLOSS – ZERO WASTE FLOSS
Switch out your floss for a zero waste floss alternative–OLA Bamboo biodegradable floss. Not only is the floss biodegradable, but the packaging is also recyclable. This floss is an excellent alternative to traditional dental floss which gets thrown into the garbage and whose plastic containers pollute for years and years.
The Mercantile now carries OLA Bamboo floss at the Zero Waste Bar. It contains 100% Recyclable packaging, Mulberry silk, and Candelilla Vegan wax.
5. VEGAN DISHWASHING ECO-SPONGE – ZERO WASTE SPONGES
Swap out your sponge for our Vegan Dishwashing Eco-Sponge. Our Eco-Sponge is 100% compostable and biodegradable, meaning when you’re done just compost it or bury it in the garden.
The Mercantile carries the Vegan Dishwashing Eco-Sponge at the Zero Waste Bar. Come into the store and buy your 3 pack of biodegradable sponges today.
6. DISH BRUSH (+ REPLACEABLE HEAD!) – ZERO WASTE DISH BRUSHES
Another earth-friendly alternative to a kitchen sponge is our Dish Brushes. The Mercantile carries white teakwood dish brushes at our Zero Waste Bar. These dish brushes also have detachable and replaceable heads. When one wears out, come into The Mercantile and replace it.
7. WHO GIVES A CRAP: TOILET PAPER & PAPER TOWELS – ZERO WASTE TOILET PAPER AND PAPER TOWELS
It takes 37 gallons of water to make one roll of toilet paper. Beyond the water, think of all the trees it takes. Americans use 8 million tons of toilet paper every year. If every US house used just one roll of 100% post-consumer recycled toilet paper a year, it would save 423,900 trees.
Who Gives a Crap is a company determined to prove that toilet paper has the power to change the world. They make all of their products with environmentally friendly materials and donate 50% of profits to help build toilets for those in need.
The Mercantile carries Who Gives a Crap Toilet Paper and Paper Towels at the Zero Waste Bar. These paper products are made sustainably with bamboo and sugarcane. They contain no inks, dyes or weird scents. Come into the store and stock up on your toilet paper supply.
8. OLA BAMBOO ZERO WASTE KIT – ZERO WASTE BAMBOO UTENSIL AND STRAW SETS
The Mercantile carries OLA Bamboo Zero Waste Kits. Next time you’re ordering take out, say no to the plastic cutlery. Instead, just pull out your handy dandy Zero Waste Kit! Plastic cutlery is easy to say goodbye to with this adorable bamboo cutlery. Each kit comes with a sustainably made bamboo fork, knife, spoon, straw, and straw cleaning tool all in a travel bag.
9. NATURAL LOOFAH – ZERO WASTE LOOFAHS
Skip the plastic loofahs this year and swap it out for the real stuff. At The Mercantile, we sell 100% natural, compostable, and locally grown loofahs at our Zero Waste Bar. Come in and grab your loofah from The Mercantile.
10. BAMBOO PLATES AND BOWLS – ZERO WASTE PLATES AND BOWLS
Swap your paper plates and bowls for Bamboozles sustainable, durable and biodegradable bamboo plates and bowls.
Get rid of your disposable plates and bowls and make the formal switch to reusable products.
It takes 8 gallons of water to make one paper plate! The modern dishwashers that are energy-efficient use 3-5 gallons of water per load of dishes. There’s so much water that goes into these products that we don’t even think about.
The Mercantile carries Bamboozle products. Shop our various reusable bamboo plates, bowls, and serving trays in the store today.
11. PRODUCE BAGS – ZERO WASTE PRODUCE BAGS
A simple zero waste tip for 2020 is to swap out plastic bags for reusable bags. End the mountain pile of plastic bags in your home and switch them out for reusable produce bags. Come into The Mercantile and get your produce bag from our Zero Waste Bar.
12. MELI WRAPS – ZERO WASTE FOOD WRAPS
If you are a user of plastic wrap, our Meli beeswax wraps will be the perfect swap for you. These reusable wraps easily cover bowls or wrap up sandwiches all with the heat of your hands. The Mercantile carries beeswax Meli wraps at the store. Make the swap from plastic to beeswax today!
13. SHAMPOO AND CONDITIONER BAR – ZERO WASTE SHAMPOO AND CONDITIONER BARS
Instead of using liquid shampoo and conditioner in plastic bottles, try switching to a zero waste alternative. The Mercantile now carries shampoo and conditioner bars. These bars are a great product that eliminates plastic bottle use.
14. REFILLABLE BATH BOMB – ZERO WASTE BATH BOMB JARS
The Mercantile proudly carries locally made bath bombs. At our Zero Waste Bar, we now have refillable jars for crushed bath bombs. Grab one of our reusable glass jars, and fill it up with our selection of crushed bath bombs. Each jar equates to one bath bomb. This will allow you to make those bath bombs last longer, and you can use your jar to refill it when you need more.
15. OLIVINA RAZORS AND REFILL BLADES – ZERO WASTE RAZORS
A zero waste tip to try this year is switching from disposable razors to a reusable one. The Mercantile carries Olivina Razors along with feather blade refills at the store. Come into and get yours today.
