Have you got the bathroom blues?

Welcome to Day 5 of little miss sorted’s 7 Day Sustainable Declutter Challenge:

The Bathroom – Hazard or Haven?

Bathrooms are an underrated danger zone for our children and the environment alike so it’s really important that we get this zone decluttered and organised safely.

• In Australia, 50 children are admitted to hospital every week as a result of poisoning. In many cases this involves the consumption of medicines that are not intended for them. This doesn’t account for children treated in out-patients, by a GP or near-misses
• More than 500 tonnes of medicines find their way into our waterways and landfill every year
• Globally, travelers and hotels throw away an estimated five million bars of waste or unused soap to landfill every day

 

Top Tips to sustainably declutter your bathroom

• Put together a few sets of nice towels, and perhaps keep a few older ones for flooding emergencies but donate the rest
• Thrown out any crusty products or anything you don’t know what it is or where it’s been. This includes make-up more than a year old. Your skin is your largest organ and it absorbs whatever you put on it. Don’t risk it!
• Medicine is dangerous at the best of times. Expired medicine should not be kept. Anything past its use-by date should be taken to your local chemist for safe disposal. All chemists are required to accept expired medicines
  • Don’t flush medicines down the toilet. Sewerage plants can’t treat all
    chemicals in waste water, resulting in contamination of waterways
  • Don’t pour medicines down the sink. Household medicines contain highly
    soluble chemicals which can harm aquatic life when they enter our water system
  • Don’t throw medicines into the garbage bin. Household medicines disposed of this way end up in exposed landfill sites

 

Top Tips to organise your bathroom

• Store like things together such as makeup, towels, shaving needs, hygiene products, hair accessories, showering, dental, soaps, perfumes etc
• Caddies or dividers inside your drawers helps to keep small things organised, such as makeup & hair accessories whilst keeping them accessible. Larger clear containers work better for things in cupboards that you have a lot of or are storing for use when things run out
• Keep medicines out of reach of children. Storing medicines in an airtight container, with a lockable-style lid up high is ideal and it really doesn’t matter which room – as long as it is safely out of reach and everyone who needs to access it knows where it is

 

Environmentally friendly resources when decluttering your bathroom:

ITEM	DESTINATION
Unopened/unused toiletries, cosmetics & hygiene products, inc hotel size	Dress for Success is a global organisation with a branch right here on the Mornington Peninsula Fitted for Work MSFIN In addition to their “It’s in the bag” November campaign mentioned in yesterday’s post, Share the Dignity runs Dignity Drives every April & August collecting feminine hygiene products for women experiencing homelessness or financial crisis Otherwise most homeless shelters or refugee centres appreciate these items all year round
Unwanted inflight amenity kits, cosmetic and make-up samples	Every Little Bit Helps ELBH also accepts hotel toiletries
Hotel toiletries	Pinchapoo
Used contact lenses & blister packs	Terracycle
Empty aerosol cans	Recycle (kerbside)
Expired/unwanted medication	Your local chemist is equipped to accept any medication and ensure it is disposed of safely. It is in no way recycled or reused
Old towels	Animal shelters such as the Lost Dogs’ Home
Hotel Soap via Soap Aid “…collect, sort, clean and reprocess hotel soap into fresh, hygienic soap bars for distribution to targeted communities around the world”	More than two billion people across the world lack adequate sanitation causing the spread of infectious diseases and hygiene-related deaths. Tragically, 1.4 million children under the age of five die each year due to preventable childhood infectious diseases. Whilst they don’t accept household soap, you can help by supporting hotels that participate in the Soap Aid program, turning waste and unused hotel soap into hygenic soap for countries where children still die from the lack of basic hygiene Oaks Hotels & Resorts

These resources and more will be added to the little miss sorted Resources page on the website. We are constantly updating our Resources Lists so check back regularly.

I hope you found today’s challenge a little easier. You’ll need all your courage tomorrow as we seek to conquer the mountains of kids’ stuff that tends to seep into every corner of our homes like lava. But don’t worry, I’ll have lots of hints, tips and resources to help you, plus it’s a Saturday and a long weekend here in Victoria, so enlist the kids and let’s get sorted together. No collection tomorrow but you have one last chance to drop your unwanted items to me on Sunday, the last day of National Organising Week. You will find me here:

Sun 11th March

Sandbox Café – Sandhurst Golf Club

75 Sandhurst Blvd, Sandhurst

10-11am

Have you stayed at any hotels that support Soap Aid? I haven’t been very successful in finding out which hotels participate in this important program and would love to expand my list of resources. I’ve emailed Soap Aid to ask them to provide a directory on their website but thought you may have seen a sign in your hotel room somewhere? Please let me know in the comments if you can help.

Happy Sustainable Decluttering! The planet thanks you.