Take a quick inventory of your bathroom counter and shower shelf. Toothbrush, toothpaste tube, deodorant, shampoo bottle, conditioner bottle, soap dispenser — chances are, nearly every single item is made of plastic, wrapped in plastic, or both.
It's no exaggeration to say our bathrooms have become the epicentre of household plastic. And most of it is designed to be used for a few weeks or months, then tossed.
Where does it all go?
You may have heard of the islands of plastic floating in our oceans — massive accumulations of waste, some spanning areas larger than entire provinces or countries. It's easy to feel like that problem is distant, abstract, someone else's doing.
But it starts somewhere much closer to home: the products we choose in our daily living. Every toothbrush, every empty shampoo bottle, every squeezed-out tube adds up. The average person will go through hundreds of plastic toothbrushes alone in a lifetime — and every one of them still exists somewhere.
The good news? The bathroom is also one of the easiest places to make meaningful changes. Here's where to start.
Start with your toothbrush
Here's something we believe deeply at Nada: you shouldn't have to sacrifice quality or design to reduce plastic waste.
The Nada toothbrush is proof. It starts with a sleek aluminum handle you keep for life — no more tossing an entire toothbrush every three months. When it's time for a fresh brush, you simply replace the head and return the old one to us, where it's commercially recycled into other products through our takeback program.
Not just less waste. Zero waste.
And because we're a little obsessed with design, your toothbrush actually adds to your bathroom aesthetic (if that's your thing). Pair it with our aluminum stand — a throne worthy of your beautiful Nada toothbrush — and suddenly the most-used item in your bathroom is also the best-looking one.
Rethink your shampoo and conditioner
Bottled shampoo and conditioner are among the biggest plastic offenders in the bathroom — and one of the simplest to swap.
Shampoo and conditioner bars have come a long way. Today's bars lather beautifully, last longer than bottled versions, and skip the plastic entirely. We love the bars from High End Hippie — salon-quality formulas without a bottle in sight.
One bar typically replaces two to three plastic bottles. Multiply that across a household and a year, and the impact adds up fast.
Swap the soap dispenser
That pump bottle of hand soap gets replaced how many times a year? Instead, choose a refillable dispenser you'll keep for good.
Bare Home makes beautiful, refillable and eco-friendly soap dispensers designed to be permanent fixtures — not disposable ones. Fill them with bulk refills and you've eliminated another steady stream of single-use plastic without giving up anything.
Progress over perfection
A zero-waste bathroom doesn't happen overnight — and it doesn't need to. Use up what you have first (tossing perfectly good products isn't the goal). Then, as items run out, replace them with better versions:
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A toothbrush handle you keep for life, with returnable heads
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Shampoo and conditioner bars instead of bottles
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A refillable soap dispenser you'll never throw away
Each swap is small on its own. Together, they transform the most plastic-heavy room in your home into one of the lightest.
And honestly? Your bathroom will look better for it, too.
Ready to make your first swap? Explore the Nada toothbrush and aluminum stand →
