Ready to elevate your sustainable lifestyle? We’re teaming up with some of our favorite eco-friendly brands to bring you the ultimate sustainable giveaway. Entering gives you the chance to win a variety of luxurious low-impact essentials, worth nearly $2000!
Enter the Ultimate Sustainable Giveaway
Important: By entering this giveaway you are adhering to the terms and conditions applicable, including participants’ information (provided in your submission) being shared amongst participating brands. Full conditions of the giveaway can be found here.
A $200 Visa Gift Card from LIVEKINDLY
A Veganologie laptop bag and Willa Phoenix shoes courtesy of Vegan Fashion Week (a $933 value)
A $200 Credit to meal delivery subscription service, Thistle
A Signature Bedding Bundle including a duvet cover, fitted and flat sheet, and 2 pillowcases made with silky-soft, sustainable CleanBamboo™ from ettitude ($490 value)
A set of 12 single origin spices, a cooking with spices technique book, spice apron, and woven kitchen towel set from Burlap & Barrel ($160 value)
Did you know that in the US alone we spend $15.2 billion every year on unwanted gifts, and 4% of them end up in the trash? You can save money and cut down on waste by shopping mindfully this holiday season. Though Black Friday is typically associated with overconsumption, it can also be a great (and hugely impactful!) opportunity to vote with your dollar by supporting ethical and sustainable brands.
To help you be a more conscious consumer, we’ve curated a list of 100+ fashion, beauty, home, and food brands that are offering Black Friday/Cyber Week sales.
P.S. There are no sponsored links here, just a roundup of our favorite brands and products that our team is actually buying and gifting this year.
For months, LIVEKINDLY’s editors, on a never-ending quest towards zero waste, have looked for ways to give up wasteful paper towels, with one wee caveat. As much as we care about the environment, we want a practical solution that doesn’t involve us, like, living off the grid or washing a dozen dish towels each day.
Then we discovered Papaya Reusable Paper Towels. (Hear that? That’s the sound of angels sighing.) They’re compostable, washable, not to mention simple to use—and easy to organize, as each set comes with drying hooks you can hang anywhere. We were floored to learn that one Papaya towel replaces 17 rolls of disposable paper towels —which means this game-changing environmental move is also saving us a ton of money.
Let’s face it: We’re addicted to paper towels
The first-ever paper towel, according to business legend, was a happy accident that sought to avoid waste. In 1907, Arthur Scott, president of Philadelphia’s Scott Paper Company, had a dilemma on his hands: an entire railroad car of toilet tissue was rolled too thick for its intended usage. Unwilling to let the paper go to waste, he decided to cut it into larger pieces and sell them as disposable paper towels. Easy to use, multipurpose, and eliminating the need for laundering, they were nothing short of revolutionary.
But Scott’s good intentions led to a whole heap of trouble for the environment. Americans alone use 13 billion pounds of paper towels each year, which adds up to about 80 rolls per person. That’s a lot of trash going into landfills, which emit large amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
But all the trash that creates isn’t our only problem. Paper towels are made by using significant water and tree-pulp resources. (In order to get certain paper towels pristinely white, chlorine and formaldehyde are added to the wood pulp, putting chemicals directly into contact with our skin and the surfaces we use.) The paper-making process likewise requires gas, to make these products and move them across the country. This is why the paper and pulp industry has become the fourth largest energy-consuming industry in the world. So reducing paper-towel dependence, even incrementally, could have a significant, positive impact on the environment.
The solution is a godsend
First, the superficial stuff: Papaya’s Reusable Paper Towels are utterly Instagrammable. No, really, their designs are so chic we don’t have to hide them when friends swing by, like we do with our stained dish towels.
Aesthetics aside, we were admittedly skeptical at first. Could these little sheets really work for cleaning, drying, washing, or even smudging off our makeup? The proof is in the paper, because these did work when it came to all of the above. (For more ideas on maxing them out, check out our pointers below.)
The versatility is great, but we’re most excited about their smell—inasmuch as, they don’t have one! That means no more stinky kitchen sponges or cleaning rags to contend with; Papaya easily replaces them. The cotton and cellulose they’re made from is quick-drying, which means odor-causing bacteria doesn’t get a chance to set up shop. After using them a few times, you can give them a simple wash-and-wring with dish soap. And when they’re ready for a deeper clean (Papaya suggests once a week), you can toss them in the dishwasher or washing machine—then hang to dry.
One Papaya Reusable Paper Towel can last us up to nine months. They’re also zero waste: at the end of their life-cycle, unlike a dishrag, these paper towels can go right into the compost bin. Or you can even throw them in the trash and rest easy knowing they’ll soon return to the earth.
Our fave thing about Papaya paper towels is how customizable they are. You can snag ’em in packs of two, four, or six—or like us, build out a subscription box for freshies whenever you need them, or want to gift them (and you will!). The hooks are a key differentiator, making it easy to station them like little soldiers fighting messes: one for the sink, one on the backsplash, and one on the kiddo’s highchair to wipe his often messy mouth (good for pet paws, too). We’ve got even more ways below. To grab our exclusive 20% discount, use code LIVEKINDLY20 on Papaya’s site.
Unique ways to use your Papaya Reusable Paper Towels
Win the war on dust
We’re constantly confronted with the fact that we routinely forget to dust (why is it everywhere, all the time?). Well, not anymore. Just run a damp Papaya Reusable Paper Towel wherever dust collects and watch it disappear, lint-free. Rinse and repeat.
Learn to love doing dishes (hear us out)
A sink full of dirty dishes used to fill us with dread—but not anymore. Papaya paper towels make this chore, dare we say, fun? We use two: One to clean every inch of our utensils, measuring cups, and kitchen tools. The other we keep on hand to mop up excess water on washed dishes to cut down on drying time.
Pimp your ride
Our cars collect a lot of gunk—from coffee spills and dusty dashboards, to muddy boots and kid messes (So. Many. Cheerios.). Nothing gets into nooks and crannies like a Papaya paper towel. Just wet it, wring it, and wipe the day away. If only it could do something about this traffic…
Glow-up your beauty routine
We love to keep a clean Papaya towel handy to take the day off our face, but our favorite beauty secret is using one to clean all those makeup tools. Brushes, sponges, and rollers (even that jade gua sha massager) work better when they’re free from product buildup. It’s official: clean is the new glam.
Pet pampering
We used to constantly launder smelly rags after wiping our pups’ paws and eyes, but now they’ve got their own designated Papaya paper towels (should we get them monogrammed?).
Streak-free your mirrors
Disposable paper towels were our best mirror cleaners, but Papayas are our new leave-no-trace answer to streaks and mirror-glomming fibers. Morning affirmations, here we come.
As the co-creator, host, and executive producer of the Travel Channel’s Bizarre Foods, Andrew Zimmern has tried it all—fermented shark meat, tarantulas… even cane toads. So the celebrity chef’s latest job role may come as a surprise. Zimmern has signed on as Next Gen Foods’ business and culinary advisor for its flagship vegan chicken brand, Tindle.
The startup’s vegan chicken debuted globally back in March 2021. It features a blend of soy, wheat, and gluten, and the distinctive taste of traditional chicken is made possible by Tindle’s proprietary plant-based fat, Lipi.
“Tindle is a fantastic example of how the food choices we make can create positive change for our planet—without sacrificing amazing flavor or any of the memories created around the dinner table,” said Zimmern. “Tindle’s ability to mirror the flavor, aroma and texture of chicken and take center stage in any dish is remarkable and makes it a true stand out among plant-based companies.”
In addition to Zimmern, Tindle’s plant-based chicken has received praise from a slew of chefs, including Rocco DiSpirito and Chad Rosenthal.
According to the company, its plant-based chicken is the first to be “created specifically by chefs and for chefs.” The company now works with nearly 110 chefs and its vegan chicken is on the menus of more than 400 restaurants around the world.
Zimmern is embracing plant-based meat in his personal life too. | Tindle
Andrew Zimmern embraces vegan meat
In addition to his new role as Tindle’s culinary advisor, Zimmern is embracing plant-based meat in his personal life as well.
In an interview with Fast Company, the television personality revealed he was cutting back on his meat intake in order to reduce his environmental footprint. “We can’t take the horse and buggy back, we can’t take fossil fuels back, but we’re smart enough to make a difference,” he said.
A 2021 study published in Nature Food found that factory farming accounts for 60 percent of the food sector’s greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, meat production causes twice the amount of pollution than that of plant-based foods.
Zimmern’s joining of Tindle’s advisory board is a sign of its burgeoning success. The company has been steadily gaining momentum in the world of vegan meat. Since its debut, it’s become popular in a number of countries, including Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, and Amsterdam.
It recently raked in $100 million in Series A funding, bringing the startup’s total funding to more than $130 million. And in February, the company expanded into the US, launching its plant-based chicken in restaurants across the country.
The UK could be home to more EV charge points by 2030 than traditional fuel pumps.
Britain’s government just announced plans to increase the current number of public chargers tenfold by the end of the decade, ahead of the expected national and global transition away from combustion engines and towards electric cars.
The £500 million Department for Transport-led scheme specifically includes £450 million for public and on-street charging for those without driveways. This was previously announced as part of the £1.6bn Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Strategy, details of which are now public.
The plans will hopefully enable more Britons to adopt electrification, as nearly 25 percent of all households do not currently have access to off-street parking. This is a significant obstacle to the charging of personal electric vehicles, which can take anywhere from 30 minutes to 12 hours. (Either way, significantly more time-consuming than filling a car up with gasoline.)
The UK is set to ban all sales of new fossil fuel-powered cars and vans by 2030, a deadline that has also been matched by many private automobile manufacturers around the world. According to the new plan, the government expects 300,000 public chargers to be available by the same year. Chargepoint operators will also be legally required to meet certain standards, such as enabling drivers to pay and find nearby chargers easily.
“No matter where you live—be that a city centre or rural village, the north, south, east or west of the country—we’re powering up the switch to electric and ensuring no one gets left behind in the process,” says Transport Secretary Grant Schapps.
Some commentators have observed that the UK’s target number of charge points will still fall short. | John Walton/PA Images via Getty Images
The UK will need nearly 500,000 new EV chargers by 2035
Despite the government’s optimism, the plan has received criticism from various companies and motoring groups for still falling short of expected demand. Energy regulator Ofgem previously estimated that around 25,000 public charging stations would need to be installed every single year until 2035 in order to reach the 480,000 and two million power leads required.
Furthermore, despite Schapps’ statement to the contrary, there is also a growing regional divide in the availability of EV chargers. And, in the historically underserved north of England, this disparity is growing even faster. Currently, around a third of all chargers are in London.
While electric cars are undeniably an essential part of national and international plans to reach zero emissions and mitigate climate change, they are far from a silver bullet. The affordability of new EVs (and new vehicles in general) means that they are out of reach for the vast majority of road users, with 75 percent of UK drivers purchasing used automobiles.
It’s also worth noting that active travel (such as cycling, walking, or wheeling) is the most sustainable solution, with public transportation a close second. Replacing all traditional vehicles with electric ones is not an acceptable solution to transportation emissions, and unfortunately, Britain’s public transport systems are some of the most prohibitively expensive in the world.
Where governments are falling short, private companies are exploiting the absence of public chargers for their own benefit. Both Taco Bell and Starbucks are hoping that adding EV charge points at stores will encourage an uptick in business from in-need travelers.
