Nine of the UK’s Best Sustainable Subscription Boxes
Trying to reduce your carbon footprint? Want to live more sustainably? These planet-friendly subscription boxes – featuring all-natural beauty and plastic-free lifestyle products – take the hassle out of going low-waste and make great, green gifts too.
15 October, 2021
Sustainable
living needn’t mean installing solar panels or
selling all your worldly possessions to live off the land. There
are many small steps that we can take towards a more
environmentally friendly lifestyle without stepping foot out the
door – quite literally. These subscription boxes take the hassle
out of reducing your carbon footprint at home. Expect all-natural
beauty products, eco-cleaning essentials and wonky veg rescued from
going to waste. Planet-friendly living (and green gift-giving) just
got that bit easier.
Zero-waste and plastic-free: nine of the best eco-friendly
subscription boxes
Authentic House
A great all-round box for fledgeling eco-warriors and those who
simply like to feel good about filling their homes with nice,
plastic-free things while discovering sustainable brands. Tailor
your subscription to your personal interests, the number of
products you want and how often you want them. A tree is planted
for every box sold.
What’s in the box? Everyday essentials such as
candles, coffee, stationery, kitchen items, beauty and laundry
products.
Cost: From £15.50
Delivery: UK and Europe
Natural Wellness Box
This bi-monthly subscription box packs in as many as seven new,
full-size products from established, artisan and emerging brands to
help you keep on top of what’s hot in sustainable health and
beauty. Each box revolves around a different theme, with past
collections centred around bedtime, botanicals and how to find a
little balance.
What’s in the box? Luxury sustainable beauty
and wellbeing products including healthy snacks, supplements,
herbal teas and all-natural skincare.
Cost: From £38
Delivery: UK and Europe
Leo’s Box
Leo stands for Loving Earth’s Oceans – the raison d’etre of this
sustainable subscription box – but it also forms the initials of
its founder Lysander, who founded the box when he was just 16.
Thoroughly vetted, eco-friendly alternatives to household and
personal-care products arrive in fully recyclable packaging. Added
feel-good factor comes from knowing that a tree is planted for
every box purchased and you saved money from buying in shops. Win,
win, win.
What’s in the box? Kitchen cleaner, coconut
scourers, beeswax wraps, coffee scrubs, natural deodorant and
more.
Cost: From £20
Delivery: UK
Homethings
Homethings invites you to “join the cleaner cleaning club” (and
has a few no-nonsense podcast episodes on sustainability for while
you’re wiping down the bathroom sink, too). Sidestepping single-use
plastics, its Keep It Clean Kit includes three rather dapper glass
bottles that can be refilled time and again with non-toxic,
vegan-friendly cleaning tablets that dissolve in water. The
flexible subscription service helps you save a few pennies and
makes sure you never run out of tabs.
What’s in the box? Three refillable glass
bottles and effervescent eco cleaning tabs (including an
all-purpose cleaner, a bathroom cleaner and one for glass and
mirrors).
Cost: From £24
Delivery: UK and select countries in Europe
gethomethings.com
Oddbox
As much as 30 per cent of the world’s fruit and veg is
considered scrap before it even leaves the farm, let alone makes it
to the back of our fridge. Oddbox works directly with UK farmers to
rescue wonky and surplus produce that would otherwise go to waste.
Subscribe for a year and, according to Oddbox, you’ll prevent 312kg
of carbon emissions.
What’s in the box? Fruit and veg
Cost: From £10.99
Delivery: London
TheVeganKind
Whether you’re a die-hard vegan or dabbling in a plant-based
lifestyle, TheVeganKind’s great-value beauty and lifestyle boxes
help you keep on top of the most exciting cruelty-free products on
the green market. A portion of profits from every box you receive
goes towards animal charities. Subscription not your style? Visit
TheVeganKind Supermarket instead.
What’s in the box? All-vegan healthy snacks,
household products, skincare and cosmetics.
Cost: From £8
Delivery: Lifestyle Box, worldwide; Beauty Box,
UK only
Who Gives a Crap?
We can’t say we’ve ever felt excited about loo roll until we
subscribed to Who Gives a Crap?. Proving that no tree needs to be
lopped down for loo roll, these guys make toilet paper from
100-per-cent forest-friendly bamboo – no inks, no dyes, no scents,
just some seriously pretty (and recyclable) packaging. You’ll never
have that run-out-of-loo-paper emergency again and, better yet, 50
per cent of profits go towards building toilets and improving
sanitation in the developing world.
What’s in the box? Recycled toilet paper.
Cost: From £26
Delivery: UK, Europe and Australia
Shorebox
Did you know that there are more than five trillion pieces of
plastic in the ocean? This fact (and a few viewings of Blue Planet
II) convinced the founders of Shorebox to start this ocean-friendly
sustainable subscription box. Its no-frills monthly box delivers
four zero-waste items that take the fuss out of going
plastic-free.
What’s in the box? Eco-friendly essentials for
the home (think: loo cleaner and Turtle bags) and toiletries
including soaps, bamboo cotton buds and natural deodorant.
Cost: £14.99
Delivery: UK
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Zed Bees
This family-run business wants to help you trade in your typical
toothpaste, shower gel et al. for zero-waste, handmade grooming
products – and make it affordable too. Box options include gift and
monthly subscriptions, as well as starter packs to kick off your
bathroom overhaul. See something you like? Curate a Build-a-Box or
shop individual products in the plastic-free shop.
What’s in the box? Organic, sustainable and
vegan-friendly bathroom essentials such as shampoo bars, toothpaste
tablets, biodegradable floss, reusable cotton pads and shaving
kits.
Cost: From £10
Delivery: UK
