Three plastic-free products - a review

I recently wrote about the problems of plastic pollution, in this post. It seems such a depressing and overwhelming problem - but we need to see the positives. We can help turn back the tide of plastic pollution. Each and every one of us has the power to help do this, because of market forces. If we start demanding plastic-free goods, the market will respond.

And I'm seeing signs that this is starting to happen. About six years ago, when I tried to start buying plastic-free goods, it was much more difficult. For example, I could only find one wooden toothbrush, online (there were certainly none to be found in the shops in my area!), and it was in Germany. The mail-order costs made it unaffordable for me.

But a few months ago, on a hillwalking trip up north, I visited a natural goods shop, and bought a wooden toothbrush. This was in a remote village called Falkland (the shop is called Pillars of Hercules). When the time came to replace the toothbrush, I couldn't find another one in my area. I did find a wooden one with medium bristles, but I have sensitive teeth, and I need a soft-bristled brush.

When I looked online, I realised that the wooden toothbrush market had grown significantly since I first started to look for one, about six years ago. There was even a review of the best wooden toothbrushes in a national newspaper. This was encouraging! And I've noticed some more plastic-free versions of products that would normally be made using plastic becoming available recently. So here is my review of three plastic-free products.

· These wooden toothbrushes with soft nylon bristles from a website called savesomegreen.co.uk.

They are made from “panda-friendly” bamboo! They were just £2.50 each, and the price would have been slightly cheaper if I'd bought more than three.

· Last year I had an accident, and lost several teeth. I now have a denture, and usually I clean it using cleaning tablets which come in a container with a plastic lid. Last time I went out to buy one, I saw this cardboard pack of denture-cleaning tabs.

The tablets come in a blister pack which appears to be made of paper. The brand is Poligrip, and it cost £1.20 for 30 tabs. It's manufactured by Glaxo Smith Kline, and I don't think it's a new brand. I think it's probably a coincidence that it's plastic-free, but I think manufacturers should be encouraged to produce plastic-free packaging, so I'll be choosing this brand in future.

· I've had an iodine deficiency, so I take high-dose iodine tablets every day. Apparently iodine requires selenium to work efficiently, so I also take selenium supplements. Both supplements usually come in plastic packs, but when I recently went to order selenium from eBay, I found these paper packs available from The Natural Foundation, 120 tabs for £6.99.

I noticed that the same company has a range of other supplements available, all in paper packs. The tablets could easily be decanted into a glass bottle when they arrive, if you're concerned about them getting wet.

Unfortunately the high-dose iodine is still only available in plastic bottles. I only know of two firms that produce high-dose iodine. It is available in liquid form (Lugol's), however some people find that Lugol's in liquid form gives them digestive problems, and I am one of them.

I will make more posts like this when I find more plastic-free versions of products that would normally contain plastic, and I would encourage others to do the same. Let's share the plastic-free goodness!

My video is at DLive