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24 Eco-Friendly Gifts For Pretty Much Everyone You Know

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Eco-friendly gifts aren’t just a 2021 trend; they’re a thoughtful way to show you care about your loved ones and the planet we all live on. But sometimes it’s hard to see the benefits for all the greenwashing, which is when companies make misleading claims about how using their product benefits the environment. With a little more thought put into your purchases—as well as buying only what you need, and what will be useful to your recipient—you don’t need to worry about your cute present being detrimental to Mother Nature.

What, exactly does that look like? Finding products that are multi-use, rather than one-and-done disposable. Opting for cleaning products that are concocted from plant-based ingredients rather than petrochemicals and leaning toward minimal or no-packaging products. Of course, you could seek out items made with recycled materials, such as a cute pair of leggings that were created from a pound of used water bottles, but we also suggest doing some research to find companies with pro-environment corporate policies. Here, the 24 best eco-friendly gifts that will make everyone on your list feel a little more planet positive.

30 Ingenious Reusable Products to Make Your Home More Eco-Friendly


blueland
Blueland

1. blueland The Clean Suite

For New Homeowners

Your giftee can start their new homemaking experience responsibly with this Pinterest-worthy set of seven reusable containers and cleansing tablets. The minimalist spray bottles for glass cleaner, foaming hand soap and countertop spray are beautiful, and the little tins for laundry detergent and dishwasher detergent tablets make opening your cabinets a pleasure. The eco-angle of this system? Users never have to buy another plastic spray bottle, so that eliminates pounds of landfill plastic, and the cleaning ingredients are USDA BioPreferred.

eco friendly gifts mouthwash tablets
Package Free

2. georganics Mouthwash Tablets

For the Whole Family

Set the most self-conscious family member on a road to oral health, but sustainably, with these dissolve-in-water tablets that come in spearmint, orange, English peppermint and activated charcoal flavors. Ah, minty (or fruity) fresh.

Buy It ($14)

eco friendly gifts tushy
Tushy

3. tushy Classic 3.0

Best for Your Best Friend

A portable bidet definitely seems like an unusual gift to give. But trust us, your nearest and dearest will appreciate the Tushy, especially after you rave about using your own. For the uninitiated, it’s an under-seat bidet that takes less than 10 minutes to install and it needs no water or electricity hookups outside your toilet. According to the brand, users’ toilet paper consumption basically dwindles to nothing once it’s installed, so you’re being a friend to the trees while your giftee will be like one reviewer who was “shocked at the pressure it generates and loved how clean he feels.”

eco friendly gifts composter
Uncommon Goods

4. uncommon Goods Living Composter

Best for Home Cooks

Teach your sister to throw her veggie scraps into this recycled plastic worm house and those little guys will chomp it into fertilizer. And they’re fast, keeping up with the refuse from a two- to three-person household. The coolest part? It looks like sculpture when it’s sitting on your kitchen shelf.

Buy It ($199)

eco friendly gifts dog bundle
Public Goods

5. public Goods Dog Bundle

For the New Pet Owner

Yup, even your pup can be eco-conscious. Each of these Public Goods sets includes a four-pound bag of dry kibble (which is free of wheat, corn and soy) as well as a cheese dog chew and sweet potato fry treats, plus plastic-free, 100 percent biodegradable dog waste bags. And, because aesthetics count, there’s a bottle of plant-based shampoo included.

eco friendly gifts menstrual cup
Grove Collaborative

6. sustain Menstrual Cup

For Yourself

All those feminine pads and tampons are clogging up landfills, but that’s a tide that’s easy to turn. Do your part with a menstrual cup, the internal menses catcher that’s so easy to use, you’ll wonder why you didn’t try it earlier. This medical-grade surgical model comes with a carrying case for storage and easy sanitizing (all you have to do is pop it in the microwave for five minutes).

eco friendly gifts grove cleanser
The Grove Company

7. grove Co. All Purpose Cleaner Concentrate + Spray Bottle Set

For Neat Freaks

Everyone loves a fresh-smelling countertop spray…but no one wants to keep paying for the high price of boutique formulas—or throwing away plastic bottles. This new capsule collection from designer Jeremiah Brent in collaboration with Grove Collaborative solves both of those issues. It includes a reusable glass bottle (so pretty, and label-free) with two bottles of a concentrated cleaner that’s made with essential oils from the Mexican jungle for a green, clean scent.

eco friendly gifts food52 bag
Food52

8. capabunga Multi-pocket Canvas Market Tote

For the Reusable Bag Lover

Give the best grocery shopping bag out there—it's got six pockets and a strap to hold flowers on the outside of the bag, so their stems don't get smushed. And vegan leather straps, a key hook...love.

eco friendly gifts closet cleanout
Package Free

9. zero Waste Box-closets And Clothing

Best for Closet Cleanouts

Help someone—maybe even yourself—get a jump on spring cleaning. Toss those old knickers, single socks, ragged pairs of jeans, sad towels—anything that you would be ashamed to even think of donating to your local clothing resale—into a box with pre-paid postage and ship to Terra Cycle, where the business owners will safely recycle your old garments, and you don’t have to feel guilty for clogging up a landfill.

Buy It ($103)

eco friendly gifts straws
Uncommon Goods

10. stainless Steel Cocktail Straws

Best for Cocktail Lovers

Your partner’s discarded straw will never again end up in landfills or waterways, and their mixed drinks will look that much better, with copper or silver straws resting in them.

eco friendly gifts bowl covers
Uncommon Goods

11. jennifer Zamudio Reusable Bowl Covers

Best for Meal Planners

Is your brother a devoted meal prepper? If so, save him yards of cling wrap or plastic bags (the World Wildlife Fund says bags have “devastating impact on our wildlife,” especially ocean wildlife, as they break into smaller and smaller bits but never really decompose) by gifting him a set of these elasticized little bowl covers. Three sizes fit almost any bowl circumference, and besides, they’re like cute little shower caps for your fridge.

Buy It ($40)

bees wrap
Amazon

12. Bee’s Wrap Assorted Set Of 3

Best for Snackers

Have a pal who likes to graze, rather than eat whole meals? They'll want to keep a range of leftovers in play, so they'll need this as a replacement for plastic wrap, which can’t be recycled and it lasts for hundreds of years in a landfill. These press-and-stick wraps are handcrafted from GOTS-certified organic cotton and beeswax and can be washed and reused, eliminating the need for plastic wrap in the first place.

eco friendly gifts hand cream
Credo Beauty

13. grown Alchemist Soothing Hand Cream

Best for Mom

No annoying or irritating chemical fragrances here—instead just aloe vera and cactus flower extract as effective moistening agents. Combined with a tantalizing mix of fragrant essential oils, including black pepper, cedarwood and tangerine peel oil, they won’t want to stop applying this hand cream. And that pink tube? Just gorgeous.

eco friendly gifts alo moves
Kathrin Ziegler/Getty Images

14. alo Moves Subscription

For the Yogi

Sometimes a digital subscription service is the greenest gift of all because it creates no carbon footprint on your giftee’s behalf (because they won’t have to drive anywhere), and it doesn’t involve any unnecessary packaging. So, there's no better excuse for gifting your sister a year’s membership to this online exercise platform from the makers of Alo Yoga exercise wear. The subscription offers easy-to-follow classes that last from 15 to 60 minutes, are tailored from beginners to experts and include meditation, Pilates and skills classes, so she can finally nail that crow pose in her own time.

Buy It ($200)

eco friendly gifts husband shirt
Facebook/Misha Nonoo

15. misha Nonoo Husband Shirt

Best for Fashion Lovers

Fun fact: This button-front shirt is the exact one that Meghan Markle wore on her first public outing with Prince Harry. Not to mention, the shirt’s classic lines and quality construction (including tuxedo-style stud buttons, elongated cuffs and a boxy oversized fit) are decidedly high-profile. Misha Nonoo pioneered the no-waste fashion production model, creating garments as they are ordered, rather than manufacturing an entire collection that then must be sold at deep discount or destroyed if it’s not sold. We’d wear this button-down at least once a week, from profesh outings (paired with a pencil skirt) to casual getaways (it’s so cute half-tucked into jeans).

eco friendly gifts matcha
Credo Beauty

16. moon Juice Cosmic Matcha

For the Foodie

The cult-favorite natural food and lifestyle brand Moon Juice has infused a traditional matcha powder with nutritional skin-nourishing mushrooms and adaptogens such as ashwagandha to combat stress. Teach your bestie to add two teaspoons to warm milk in the morning or to hot water for afternoon tea, and they’ll be engrossed in their new nutritious coffee-substitute habit.

eco friendly gifts patagonia
Nordstrom

17. patagonia Nano Puff Water Resistant Jacket

For Your Guy

Longtime environmentally-conscious brand Patagonia has a philosophy that the longer you keep using your garments, the better it is for the planet (i.e., it’s the “reuse” portion of the “reduce, reuse, recycle” mantra). That’s why the company issues a lifetime guarantee for all of its garments, with online instructions for repairing them, or info on how to get fixes done at a repair center in Reno, Nevada. All that eco-care aside, this lightweight puffer jacket is a lightweight and a joy to wear. It’s a classic he’ll reach for on chilly days for years to come.

eco friendly gifts wool sneaker
Allbirds

18. allbirds Women’s Wool Dasher Mizzles

Best for Outdoorsy Types

Athletic shoes are pretty notorious for their heavy use of petroleum during the manufacturing process but Allbirds’ wool upper, recycled water-bottle soled running shoes get high marks for avoiding those materials—in addition to their lowered environmental impact. And style-wise, the charcoal-on-grey tones and understated profile of the Kotare Night colorway are cute enough for your mom (or dad) to wear while bopping around town.

eco friendly gifts deodorant
Credo Beauty

19. corpus No Green Natural Deodorant

Best for Athletes

Yes, this deodorant is totally worth $24. The sleek, green packaging and essential oil-blended citrusy fragrance skews more upscale wellness product than drugstore deodorant. Which is why this is a luxe gift to give to anyone who works up a big sweat regularly—they will most appreciate how this formula uses naturally derived enzymes and plant extracts, not baking soda like many eco-deodorants, to eliminate stinkiness before it even gets going.

eco friendly gifts leggings
Wolven

20. wolven Turmeric Pocket Legging

Best for Athleisure Devotees

In a new, earthy color, these super-soft compression leggings are not just cute, they are made with 84 percent post-consumer recycled plastic.

eco friendly gifts fabric bags
Package Free

21. package Free Product Bag Bundle

Best for the Organization Minded

Everything in its place, right? Two large mesh bags and three medium cotton bags replace plastic, and keep you sorted, when you’re picking out your fruits and veggies; it’s everything you need for a truly waste-free trip to the market. (And after a long life of use, even these bags are backyard compostable.)

Buy It ($22)

eco friendly gifts diapers
Grove Collaborative

22. dyper Sustainable Diapers – One Month Supply

Best for New Parents

These chlorine-free diapers are made of bamboo-derived viscose rather than petroleum-derived materials, and new parents will appreciate not having to worry about running out of this necessity in those first sleepless weeks.

eco friendly gifts lowtop sneakers
Cariuma

23. cariuma All Camel Suede Oca Low

Best for the Frequent Flyer

We’ve officially found the perfect casual shoe. It’s got the comfort of sneakers (thanks to a memory foam insole) and a cool, go-with-everything matching suede-and-rubber design. Finally, a sneaker no one is dying to kick-off midflight.

101 ways to go zero waste
Amazon

24. 101 Ways To Go Zero Waste By Kathryn Kellogg

Best for the Eco-Curious

Think of this as the zero-waste bible. It offers 101 simple life changes that make a big impact—from how to compost to plastic alternatives—in a quick, easy read.


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dana dickey

Senior Editor

Dana Dickey is a PureWow Senior Editor, and during more than a decade in digital media, she has scoped out and tested top products and services across the lifestyle space...