Campfire Content treasures companies and people devoted to improving the planet. We champion efforts to reduce plastic. To regenerate soil. To mitigate energy use, fight global warming and fortify the natural world.

Campfire Content embraces the #noplastic revolution. Plastics clog our seas and waterways, killing fish and sea mammals and destroying ecosystems. So much plastic now pollutes earth that microplastics get carried into clouds, and fall as rain.

Plastic is everywhere. Time For #NOPLASTIC

The statistics appall. The world produces 300 million tons of plastic a year, half of which is for single-use purposes: carrying groceries from a shop to a car, holding soda, serving as cutlery for a takeout lunch. In all, companies created 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic since mass production began six decades ago. Of that 6.3 billion remains in landfills and litter scattered on beaches, roadsides and forests according to a recent study in the journal Science Advances.

Plastic madness has grown more pronounced in recent years. During the first 10 years of the 21st century, people produced more plastic waste than during the entire previous century.

Packaging accounts for 40 percent of plastic usage. Every minute, a million plastic bags get used. Plastic bottles stand as an enormous problem. In the United States alone during 2014, the average person went through 315 plastic bottles, and 57 percent of them were for water. In all, we used 100.7 billion bottles in 2014, up from 3.8 billion in 1996. Bottles represent 14 percent of all waste.

The plastic flood inundates our lives and world. Without action, it will grow much worse. Only we can make it stop.

We at Campfire are doing what we can, and looking for inspiration in all corners for other ways to draw down our plastic use.

We now make a variety of household products, and we offer recipes for some of them. Toothpaste. Mouthwash. Aftershave. Moisturizer. Nut milk. Crackers. 

We use shampoo and conditioner that is sold bulk, in bar form. Our razors now are 100 percent steel. Toothbrushes? Bamboo. We use sheets of beeswax to cover leftovers and wrap food items like cut lemons. We make our own bread, fermented foods, kombucha and non-dairy yogurt, carry personal water bottles and always bring shopping bags to the grocery store. Whenever we use Ziploc bags, which is not often, we wash them and save them for further use.

Every #noplastic step matters

Our goal, eventually, is to largely eliminate single-use plastics from our lives. Certain things in particular irritate, like the plastic tubs used for tofu. We learned how to make our own, but homemade tofu demands quite a bit of time and attention. We would love to master it.

One bonus of all of this DIY, outside of eliminating single-use plastic? Financial savings. Our aftershave, for example, costs less than a dollar for enough to last six months. Almond milk, literally, costs pennies to make, rather than $4 or $5 for a plastic-coated carton. 

Join us in this #noplastic revolution! Send along ideas, tips and recipes — we will champion your ideas on this blog. Email us.

Toothpaste recipe

This toothpaste uses activated charcoal, and as a result it is black. Don’t worry! The charcoal won’t stain your teeth. In fact, since it is mildly abrasive, it helps remove stains.

• 1/4 cup baking soda
• 2 teaspoons bentonite clay
• 1 teaspoon activated charcoal
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1  tablespoon coconut oil
• 2 teaspoons organic vegetable oil
• 20 drops essential oil, such as peppermint or clove (or several different oils, altogether amounting to about 20 drops)

Mix the baking soda, clay, charcoal and salt in a glass jar. Melt the coconut oil and add it gradually, mixing it to a paste. Add the vegetable oil and continue mixing. Add the oils, and blend.

Aftershave recipe

It’s so simple, and effective, with tons of room for experimentation.

• 1 tablespoon vegetable glycerin
• 3/4 cup witch hazel
• 25 drops cedarwood essential oil
• 10 drops vetiver essential oil
• 8 drops bergamot essential oil

Mix all ingredients together in a glass jar. Pour into a glass spray bottle, or some other bottle that work. The goal is a vessel that makes it easy to release small amounts of liquid at at time.

Mouthwash recipe

This is even simpler than the aftershave recipe. Just three ingredients, and you on your way to breath excellence.

• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 cup filtered or distilled water
• 4-8 drops of peppermint essential oil
• 2 drops tea tree essential oil

Mix all ingredients in a glass jar. When ready to use, first shake the jar to redistribute the baking soda. Then sip just a tiny bit, swish it around your mouth for a minute or two, and spit into sink.

Almond milk

One sip of homemade almond milk and you’ll never go back to store-bought.

• 1/2 cup raw almonds, soaked overnight in cool water
• 5 cups filtered water
• Pinch sea salt
• 1-2 whole dates
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Add soaked almonds, water, salt and any add-ins (such as dates for sweetness, and vanilla for flavor) to a high-speed blender, and blend until creamy, anywhere from 1 to 2 minutes.

Strain milk,  using a nut milk bag or simply a strainer with a fine weave. You can even pour it over a dish towel (over a bowl), gather up the corners, and squeeze out the milk.