AS WE ALL know Millennials are cold-hearted killers.
We’ve been accused of killing everything from the utterly mundane, like napkins.
Er?
…to the extraordinary
The Economist / Twitter
The Economist / Twitter / Twitter
Eh, okay, diamonds are a bit far down on the shopping list to budget for when you’re living paycheck-to-paycheck.
These articles, written by Baby Boomers, seem to conveniently ignore that they as a generation are actually the single-handily are worst generation to ever be in charge of the planet (love you, though, Mum and Dad).
Vox have a fantastic article that lays out how Baby Boomers took for granted the peaceful, rich and dynamic world that had been created by previous generations, ultimately resulting in us Millennials inheriting a pillaged planet and a back-breaking amount of debt.
Yahhh!
But millennials are becoming the generation that is taking the call to reduce waste and reuse goods seriously. If you’ve been thinking for a while about jumping on that eco-friendly, sustainable bandwagon, here are three products to kickstart your inner eco-warrior.
1. Pit Putty
Calling itself ‘the natural deodorant, that works’, Pit Putty is made in Ireland by wife and husband team Laura and Luke.
Pit Putty is vegan friendly and uses natural ingredients as well as being completely free from harmful chemicals, aluminium oxides and preservatives. It comes in a range of scents, with he biggest seller being Lemongrass & Tea Tree, which from using it, I can attest to how delish it smells. The product comes in a tin and costs €11.95.
As well as buying online, it’s currently stocked in 17 locations across Dublin, as well as Cork, Galway, Clare, Donegal, Kerry, Limerick, Longford, Meath, Sligo, Tipp, Waterford, Westmeath and Wicklow.
2. Mooncups
You may have heard vaguely of Mooncups or reusable menstrual products.
The first thing to know is that women can use up to 15,000 period products in their lives. Your sanitary habits will live on much longer than you. Plastic applicators for tampons are unrecyclable and take 500 years to degrade and disposable tampons/pads take more than a century to degrade.
Enter the Mooncup.
Firstly, it’s reusable so you won’t have any unnatural waste filling up your bins and landfills every month. Secondly, it cost 30 years and last for a decade, which at the cost of €30, is quite the bargain.
There’s two sizes available:
If you are over the age of 30 or have given birth vaginally then choose Size A. If you are under 30 and have not given birth, size B is the one for you.
You might feel squeamish about re-using it, but you probably felt nervous the first time you used tampons or pads. And now look at you! There’s not a gal in Ireland who can’t change herself standing fully-naked in a nightclub toilets with a jumpsuit around her ankles, balancing on 4 inch heels, and half-cut from G&Ts.
3. Keep-cup
The world has a coffee addiction. No harm in that too much, much worse things to be addicted to (the years I wasted on my Pretty Little Liars addiction, for example), but there’s a dirty habit behind our caffeine love-in.
Every year, 500 billion disposable coffee cups are consumed every year.
In Ireland alone, 22,000 coffee cups are disposed of every single hour.
Single use coffee cups are not on the Recycling list here in Ireland.
The solution? Bring your coffee cup with you.
Reusable coffee cups are becoming increasingly ubiquitous and come in a range of colours and designs.
Many coffee shops, like Third Space in Smithfield, also offer a discount when you use your own cup. Here’s a handy lil map of all the cafes in Irealnd that currently offer a discount.
