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Public embraces sustainable living
Consumers are embracing the growing number of high quality, natural household and personal care products now available on the market that support a viable and sustainable lifestyle.
Owner of Handmade Naturals in Highgate Hill Corinne Sparks has observed a growth in all sustainable products within her store during the past 12 months.
“The sales of our cleaning and personal care products as well as household paints are continuously increasing as is the demand for organic fresh produce and grocery items,” Ms Sparks said.
“Changing to natural non-toxic cleaning products is a great start [to helping the environment] and changing to chemical free personal care products will also help significantly reduce the chemicals washing into our water ways.
“One of the most important aspects to remember with environmentally friendly household cleaning products is that they’re concentrated so they do not contain fillers and bulking agents.
“Initially these products may seem more expensive than their chemically-laden counterparts but you need only use a small fraction of what you would use of the chemical ones.
“They therefore last you much, much longer, which in turn actually makes them very cost effective in the long run,” she said.
A practical and sustainable household product gaining consumer attention is Eco-organics’ Eco Bucket, an odourless indoor organic waste system, which ferments food waste so it can be placed directly on the soil.
According to office manager for Eco-organics Donna Borg, the fermented food waste produced by the Eco Bucket is more beneficial to the environment than conventional fertilisers.
“Unlike conventional fertilisers, the purpose of effective micro-organisms, produced when food is processed by the Eco Bucket, is to increase the number of beneficial micro-organisms in the soil,” Ms Borg said.
“The microbes work in an environment with no oxygen, so they don’t produce heat or odours, there’s no leachate problem and no insects or rodents either, unlike composting processes.
“Fermented food waste has the bonus of providing natural, beneficial microbes into your garden and over time these will assist in producing greater plant yields and healthier, stronger plants.
“In this process, harmful species are suppressed, thereby reducing microbial species that cause soil born diseases,” she said.
Story by Sarah Cann