A Compost-Friendly Holiday Home Guide

Ah, holidays. We love them. A time of cheer and excess, when the stresses of the year wash away. We seek out family and friends and spend quality time with them, we travel, we eat well. We turn on the lights and turn up the music.

There is a downside to all this though. A lot more waste is created by households around the world during the holiday season. In America alone, approximately 25-million extra tonnes of garbage makes its way to landfill. That’s a lot of pressure on our waste management systems, and an upsurge in the amount of methane being introduced into the environment.

Luckily, there are ways you can tweak your holiday lifestyle to make it more environmentally friendly. Home composting of your food waste is a huge step in reducing the environmental footprint of your home. Plus your Subpod worm farm will give you nutrient-rich ‘black gold’ compost to fertilise your kitchen garden with. It’s a win-win!

But what of other products in your home? When entertaining this holiday season you might find yourself reaching for convenient products that are really harmful to our planet. The good news is there are eco-conscious, compostable products out there that can help your home stay clean and green!

We’ve tried and tested a few of them here at Subpod to figure out which ones really do break down in your home composting system. We put together this compost-friendly holiday home guide to help you decide for yourself which products would suit your home best!

Six Compostable Products We Know Work!

Compostable Swedish Dishcloths from Zero Co

The humble dishcloth is an essential part of keeping a home clean. Unfortunately the standard dishcloths aren’t designed with the environment in mind, often made from nylon, polyester and polyurethane. After shedding a bunch of microplastics down your drain they end up sitting in landfill taking many years to break down.

We tested these compostable Swedish discloths from Zero Co, and they work great. Made purely from natural fibres, including 70% cellulose (FSC Certified) and 30% waste cotton, they're 100% compostable. We put them into a Subpod and found that within two to three months they had turned to compost. They’re easy to use too, absorbing 15-times their own weight and allowing for streak-free cleaning of surfaces and items.

What if the cloth you use everyday to wipe your bench could be compostable? Would you make the switch?

Dental Floss from Bite

Dental floss is typically made from synthetic waxed nylon or teflon. It’s a menace to recycle, with estimates suggesting it can sit in landfill for up to 80 years before completely breaking down. Its stringy nature makes it harmful to wildlife too, who can choke on it or get trapped in it.

It’s a bit of a conundrum though, because dentists all around the world recommend flossing as being essential to good oral health. What do we do?

One option we have tried and tested is plastic-free dental floss from Bite. Made from PLA (polylactic acid), this vegan-friendly oral care option is 100% compostable and free of teflon, silk, plastic and animal testing.

However, because it’s PLA, it takes a bit longer to compost. We’ve found it can hang around in your Subpod for six to twelve months. The plus side is it’s so tiny, you probably won’t notice it!

Compostable Dish Brush from Seed and Sprout

If you’ve researched eco-friendly home cleaning products, you may have noticed most eco dish brushes have a plastic bristle brush. Not this compostable dish brush from Seed and Sprout!

This all-natural cleaning machine has a bamboo handle and 100% plant fibre bristles. We love that the head is replaceable too, so when it needs freshening up you simply replace it with a new one. It looks really stylish and cleans your dishes and pots extremely well.

Bamboo would take up to 12 months to compost in your Subpod, so we wouldn’t recommend putting it in there. It ‘s 100% biodegradable though, so once you’re done with it, dig a hole and plant it in the garden!

Coconut Bowls

Planning a picnic this holiday season? Stay away from plastic bowls and make it an eco-friendly outing with these awesome Coconut Bowls!

We love these sustainable and stylish dining products that allow you to connect with nature every mealtime. Made from waste coconut shells that would otherwise be discarded or burned, this is upcycling at its best. It also means coconut farmers get an income from their waste product.

The handcrafted bowls can last a lifetime with proper care. But if you have a breakage, they’re fully biodegradable and will break down into the soil. They may sit in your Subpod for up to 12 months though, so bury them in your garden if that’s too long for you.

Compostable Cling Wrap from Great Wrap

One of the best things about massive holiday meals are the days worth of leftovers that follow. Cold ham sandwiches for breakfast? Why not!

Unfortunately there aren’t many storage options for leftovers other than to pull out the roll of plastic cling wrap. Until now, thanks to Australian company Great Wrap. The team of scientists and bio-engineers there have created a revolutionary stretch wrap material with potato waste!

It performs like conventional plastic, but is 100% compostable and can be placed into your Subpod. We found it’ll break down in around six months, and because of its ingredients it won’t leave any micro-plastics behind.

Baby Wipes from Ecoriginals

This one might be more for the Mums and Dads out there, but the truth is these baby wipes from Ecoriginals are handy all around the house and for camping too. They’re made from 100% bamboo natural fibres, which gives an ideal combination of softness and strength.

With zero harsh chemicals and no alcohols, chlorine or synthetic fragrances, these wipes are a delight to use. They’re also easily compostable, and will break down in your Subpod within three months.

Opt for a Greener Holiday Season

It won’t take much to reduce the eco-footprint of your home this holiday season. A couple of simple product substitutions and you’re already making a difference! If you’ve been thinking of getting onto the home composting train, there’s no better time than now. All that extra food waste from the holidays will be turned into nutritious and delicious food for your plants instead of going to landfill!

And if you’re looking for that perfect gift… well, a Subpod worm farm could just be it! Check out our range of food-waste fighting products below.

Get Your Family Composting This Holiday Season!

Our worm farms are the gift that keeps on giving.