Toiletries and using less plastic

[Paul1255]

When I started my own listing 18 months ago I bought hotel-style individual toiletries to leave in the guest room when guests checked-in.

Almost all guests would use them, take them home or comment on them- but I suppose only because I provided them...they were never expected!

Last year @Lizzie started a thread about plastics and going plastic free, which really made me think about my plastic and single plastic use.

Another community member, I think  @Kath9 in Australia suggested using large dispensers in the bathroom and then refilling those- and now I have run-out of those naughty little individual bottles I have purchased pump bottles for the bathroom and big 5 litre refills to top them up.

I have bought them for my own listing as well as all of the listings I manage, to try and do my bit.

I still feel bad, everything is still made of plastic (the bathroom dispensers, the big refills and the pumps) but certainly it’s less plastic than a new bottle every few guests and I hope it’ll make a bit of a difference 🙂 

What does everyone else do in their listings?

Paul :

[Kenn-And-Susan0]

This is quite a good idea. Do your bottles disappear with your guests?

[Beth80]

@Ana1136  I have 1 liter glass bottles in the guest mini fridge. One of the things I stress in the walk through with each guest is that our tap water is drinkable. Yet I still get guests that insist on buying bottled water. 😞

[Sarah977]

@Paul1255  The only thing I list toiletry-wise is soap. So I don't have any of those wall-mounted dispensers. I found some colorful metal pump containers at a dollar store years ago- I've never seen them again, but I have seen some nice stainless steel ones around. So, like plastic, unbreakable, but also not plastic garbage when they've seen better days. Unfortunately there's no refill shops here, so I buy liquid soap in big bottles (unfortunately plastic) at Costco- one bottle lasts me for almost 2 years, but I only host one guest at a time and only about half the year. I also found little guest-size bars of soap in the baby section of my local Walmart, that come in cardboard cartons, no plastic. And because it's meant for babies, it's hypo-allergenic, so all guests can use it.

Guests leave lots of products behind. I got an attractive basket and put left-behind shampoo, conditioner, shaving foam, sunscreen, bug repellent, etc. in it and tell guests to help themselves to whatever they need. I make sure to wipe everything down with antibacterial wipes- it all looks clean and new and they're at least half full. If less than that, I just use it for myself, or give it away. 

I've found that most of my guests actually travel with their own shampoo, and even soap. At least half the time I'll find those little bars of soap untouched.

[Paul1255]

@Sarah977  that's really good that you keep products guests leave behind, clean up and then provide to future guests to use- I like that!

[Sarah977]

@Paul1255  I hate waste. I'm one of those people who squeezes the very last bit of toothpaste out the tube, not cause I'm trying to save a few cents, but because it seems so wasteful to throw something out without using all of it. I'll even cut open a bottle of conditioner so I can get the last inch of product out of it. I must have lived through a major depression or lean times in some past life.

I had a male guest who left what appeared to be a full can of men's shaving foam. He had only stayed for three days, he probably only used it once or twice. I had an upcoming male guest, so I messaged him to say that even though I only list soap, there was that full can, as well as shampoo, sunscreen ,etc, so as long as he wasn't fussy about what brand of products he used, he really didn't need to bring any of that. He thanked me, as he was flying and was really grateful not to have to fill up his bag with toiletries.

[Paul1255]

I'm the same @Sarah977 , I cut the toothpaste tube open when it's "finished" and get another few days worth of toothpaste from the interior, I do the same with all my other toiletries- it's amazing how much of thicker creams and shampoos stick to the interior of their packaging!

I get that from my mum, she does the same and will never waste anything at all.

[Helen350]

@Paul1255  @Sarah977 Me too! I use every last drop, AND make guests' left behind toiletries available to other guests, or use them myself! - Hate waste!

[Kenn-And-Susan0]

I love this toothpaste tube roller for our personal use. It squeezes every last bit.

https://images.containerstore.com/catalogimages/281984/toothpaste%202.jpg?width=1200&height=1200&ali...

I still provide little tubes of toothpaste for my guests, because I don't think people want to brush their teeth from a communal tube.

[Helen350]

@Paul1255  I use the largest bottles I can buy from Home Bargains. Preferably with a pump. I currently have a 900ml bottle of body wash with pump on the go, which cost £1. Also a 900ml pump bottle of conditioner for £1.50. (Shampoo in same range.) They've just got some decorative, up marketly packaged 1 ltr pump bottles in for £2.....

[Paul1255]

@Helen350  nice, I like the sounds of those prices, I shall have to check it out 🙂

[Helen427]

@Paul1255@Mika8 @Susan1028 @Beth80 @Helen350 @Lizzie 

I try to live with the saying Reduce, Reuse, recycle.

I can't recall when I last brought any of these items as I've accumulated so many from my own & other people's travels. Just recieved some more treats this week.

It's the product inside these bottles we also need to be mindful of & where it ends up..

Re toothpaste tube, that's  a trait some of us have probably inherited from growing up in environments where parents/ family have lived through far more challenging times than we ever will.

It's a bugbear with any tubes, especially women's cosmetics.

Having worked in Cosmetics/ Parfum industry we used to have to fill out reports so I also made sure I regularly commented on packaging & to eliminate or change it.

Oh & a confession, I'm in part responsible for all you Men who came to be called Metrosexuals for taking a greater interest in & encouraged the use of skincare products as men have equal rights to healthy skin to.

@Paul1255 Do you provide showercaps???

It's funny who we used to discover who used them when I did one of my first jobs as a Housemaid in a 5 star Hotel.

Has anyone noticed how traditional Parfums to this day come in glass bottles?

All the Best

[Paul1255]

@Helen427  Yes you're right, for me at least it's a trait of having grown up with a mum who lived through challenging times as a child where everything was used up, recycled and so on because every little counted.

I don't provide shower caps as I have never understood the point of them- if I have a shower and don't want to get my hair wet I manage it without a cap...but I suppose that's because I have shortish hair!

[Helen427]

@Paul1255 

At a guess shower caps came about during a Depression era of the world for women who had their hair done for special ocassions.

Haha, do you recall those plastic inflatable hairdriers when electric hairdriers first came out?

I wonder if anyone in here uses them still.

Now that would be a fun talking point..

[Paul1255]

@Helen427  yes that makes sense actually! Then you would want to keep that hair well protected.

Plastic inflatable hairdryers?! I don't know of them.

Paul 🙂

[Helen427]

@Paul1255 Sunbeam Bonnet hairdryer - 1960/70's 

Sunbeam used to produce a Hairdryer with Plastic Bonnet, they were elasticised like shower caps. used to see them around every now & again.

This is one I found online.

Some may reognize them from their younger days, maybe ask your mum if she remembers them if she's still around