The Only Eco Friendly Gift Guide You Need- 41 Sustainable Gifts to Give Right Now

Gift something that has a hidden agenda this holiday season. There doesn’t have to be any sacrifices when it comes to gifting sustainably. With a little research and help from the best eco-friendly gift guide, you can gift your friends or family something that will satisfy their wants and needs while also pleasing our fabulous planet Earth. And goodness knows good ‘ole Earth could use some gift receiving just as much as Aunt Karen and Uncle Bob.

Take a look at the Best Eco Friendly Gift Guide. We’ve listed 41 of the best products and experiences that you can feel good about giving and they can feel better about receiving.

What makes it Eco Friendly?

When gifting something that is eco-friendly, you can rest easy knowing that it has been defined as not being harmful to the environment. That includes everything from production to packaging. Every step along the way has been thought through to promote sustainability and lessen its impact on the environment. Another term to look out for is “Sustainable”. Though the definition isn’t a one size fits all, sustainable products prioritizes conscientious production to ensure natural resources are not depleted while producing the products.

1. Elate Cosmetics

They are the full package, and a low waste package to boot. With informing their consumers about the downfall of well-intentioned recycling of their lipstick tubes, most consumer recycled products just end up in the landfill. This is why Elate takes on the recycling of their own products. 75% of their products can be reused, composted, or recycled. 100% of their products are vegan, cruelty free, and fair-trade and 75% of the ingredients are organic.

2. Clean Faced Cosmetics

This company is COMPLETELY PLASTIC FREE and very near being ZERO WASTE. That is impressive if I do say so myself. Their products are also 100% vegan! Send back your containers to be refilled and feel good about the products you’re putting on your face. They even make regular donations to charities such as the Environmental Defense Fund.

3. Axiology

Vegan and planet friendly cosmetics made with under 10 ingredients! This company wanted to do their part for the environment and employed the local women of Bali to gather and repurpose trash to be used for packaging their products. Try their award winning 3-in-1 crayon, a plastic free crayon used for lips, cheeks, and eyes.

4. Dirty Hippie Cosmetics

A beloved eco-friendly cosmetics brand that provides beautiful makeup for the everyday look as well as vegan ethically sourced hair care products. They encourage their consumers to save their metal tins and packaging to send back when their products need to be refilled. They even use repurposed newspapers and post-consumer paper tape to keep it zero waste.

5. Friendly Soap

Simplicity is often best. Friendly soap sells eco friendly, vegan, amazing smelling shampoo & conditioner bars. Not only are they 100% natural but they are effective and won’t dry out your hair. Free from parabens, sulphates, triclosan, and phthalates; theses bars are a great way to start your natural journey. Plus, they are easier to travel with because they don’t count as a liquid! SCORE!

6. Plaine Products

Maybe you’re more of a traditional gal. Plaine products offer liquid shampoo, conditioner, and body wash in 100% recyclable and refillable aluminum bottles. They pride themselves on being attentive to zero waste in production and shipment. You won’t find a single gram of plastic in any of their products and the best part of it all is they offer travel sizes!

7. Tinggly

One of the downsides of gifting an experience is often the idea that the person won’t have any wrapping paper or packing to tear to shreds in excitement. Tinggly offers 100% eco-friendly packaging that holds an e-voucher that unlocks hundreds of experiences in all major cities around the world.

8. The Pig Hotel

With 8 locations along the south coast of England, you’ll undoubtedly find the one that suits you. Visiting the Pig Hotel will not only indulge your senses and provide the perfect backdrop for a weekend getaway but it also promotes sustainable practices and local business partnerships. They only source their restaurant ingredients from their local garden or within a 25 mile radius to cut down on their carbon footprint.

9. Book a trip to Bhutan

Maybe not the easiest gift to give HOWEVER, this place measures its success in Gross National Happiness. Sustainability is a pillar to what makes Bhutan such an exotic and wondrous place to visit. Check out Bhutan Homestay where the profits generated go back into the community to offset the losses of crops and livestock caused by the wildlife of the park.

10. Seacology Expositions

What started as one project to help preserve the rainforest of Samoa has turned into Seacology, one-of-a-kind ecotourism adventures. Travelers can book a tour on one of the island locations (located all over the world) where they can interact with the local community and be a part of the conservation initiatives. Guests are able to witness first-hand active projects being put in place to protect the delicate ecosystem and community of the chosen location.

11. Natural Habitat Adventures

The only 100% carbon neutral travel company on the market currently. “Nat Hab”’s mission is conversation through exploration. They offer tours in the freezing arctic to balmy safaris in Africa. These tours provide dollar incentives to the local communities to protect their natural resources. You can easily do your part knowing that Nat Hab gives 1% of their gross annual sales to WWF year after year.

12. Quark Expeditions

Save the polar bears! With climate change melting the polar ice caps, Quark is committed to raising awareness of this pressing issue. They provide remote environmentally responsible tours of the Arctic and Antarctica, working with guests as well as industry leaders to help solve the key issues affecting these regions. The company plans to extend a half of a million dollars annually to initiatives and research to sustainability projects in the areas.

13. Sustainable Travel

Maybe you have a friend who is feeling the guilt of her jet setting ways. This membership is low cost and provides things such as a sustainable traveler guide, best practices for sustainable travel, and a discount code to calculate what your carbon offset would be. You can gift it for as low as $25 per year. The Sustainable Travel Membership is a great educational tool for the green traveler. 

14. G Adventures

A travel company offering small group tours that provide you with the tools to know how environmentally responsible your trip is from the start. G Adventures provides tours conducted by locals, not by some random (CLEARLY not from here) dude who picked up a book a couple months ago. They have partnered with National Geographic and the Jane Goodall Institute in the past to create sustainable environmentally responsible tours and are continuing on with this stride. 

15. Reef Safe Sunscreen- Stream2Sea

This biodegradable, paraben-free completely reef safe sunblock is water-resistant up to 80 minutes. Reef safe sunscreens are extremely important in those scuba or snorkel trips. You want to be able to enjoy the colorful coral while also making sure you are keeping them safe in the process. And if you’re thinking, am I seeing plastic packaging here? The mineral-based sunscreen has eco-friendly packaging, the tubes are made from sugarcane resin.

16. Mosquito Repellent- Quantum Health Buzz Away

Normal bug sprays are filled with chemicals that can not only leave you feeling sticky, itchy, and smelly but they suck for the environment. Quantum makes their mosquito and tick repellant with essential oils such as lemongrass, peppermint, citronella and more to keep the pests happily living their lives BUT at a friendly distance. Take it camping or on the next mountain hiking adventure.

17. Scrubba Bag

Inspired by a Mt. Kilimanjaro trip, this wash bag was made for the traveler who needs fresh underwear. But in all seriousness, the Scrubba is an amazing invention that lets you wash clothes ANYWHERE. This company is committed to responsible environmental and social practices and donates 1% yearly to environmental causes. They have un-dyed fabric options to help reduce their carbon footprint. And in 2023 they are hoping to roll out their 100% recycled polyester Scrubba wash bag.

18. Travel Containers- GoToobs

Every traveler needs leak-proof travel tubes. Made from silicone, Gotoobs eliminate the need for single use plastic travel sized products. GoToobs are TSA-friendly and have a zillion positive reviews on Amazon. They really are leak-proof, I have some. And they also are super-duper easy to fill because they have a large opening to pour liquids into. Plus they come in different sizes, how wonderful! 1.25 ounces, 2.5 ounces, and 3.4 ounces. They are made from food safe BPA-free (BPA is a nasty industrial chemical used in plastics and resins since the 1950s) material.

19. Sustainable Towel- Will & Wind

This quick dry lightweight towel is made from post-consumer plastic bottles in the form of recycled polyester. And since I was skeptical about the carbon footprint of this extensive production line I dug deeper. I was happy to see that their production line uses 70% less energy, 90% less water, and releases 75% less carbon than a typical virgin fiber production process. Plus they come in super cute designs which are very very soft and repel sand, which is also important.

20. Biodegradable Soap- Dr. Bronner’s

Chosen as one of “the most influential gear of all time” by Outside magazine, Dr. Bronner’s biodegradable soap is entirely organic. It can be used for 18 different purposes, it is strong enough to cut through the grease of dirty dishes, and gentle enough to be used as body soap or toothpaste.  They value their relationships with organic farmers and prioritize equitable supply chains. Their products are independently certified to ensure high industry standards for ecological and social sustainability. And as for packaging, it is made with locally sourced 100% post-consumer recycled plastic packaging.

21. Travel Bidet- Tushy

Because they are actually extremely useful!! Did you know how much water and trees and bleach it takes to make toilet paper year after year? A lot, as in 437 billion gallons of water, over 250,000 tons of bleach and millions of trees. Using Tushy can cut down your carbon footprint while also protecting your precious booty from infection and disease and random itchiness. Let’s get you feeling super fresh this year.

22. Sustainable Packing Cubes and Bags- Paravel

Paravel embraces sustainability at their very core. Their packing cubes and bags are made from 100% recycled plastic water bottles and/or other upcycled materials. This company believes that travel doesn’t need to sacrifice Earth’s precious resources. Their multi-functional sustainable packing bags, luggage, and accessories are made to serve the environment. With their partnership with Climate Neutral (a nonprofit org. working to decrease greenhouse emissions), Paravel is committed to being the benchmark for carbon-neutrality in their industry.

23. Solar Power Bank- Blavor Charger

Harness the power of the sun! This solar powered charger can charge not only one but 3 devices at once. My fancy charger can only charge two… It is also waterproof so no need to worry when bringing it in the kayak with you. Along with its wireless charging pad, it also has a built in LED flashlight for all your adventuring needs. The look isn’t exactly New York fashion week ready, but it’s useful and is a renewable energy source. Which, to me, should get a spot in all of the fashion weeks.

24. Portable Bluetooth Speaker- The House of Marley Get Together 2

The House of Marley commits to designing eco-friendly tech products. There products use natural bamboo, upcycled silicone, aluminum, stainless steel, and go as far as delivering them in 100% recyclable packaging. The Get Together 2 is dust and water resistant, so don’t worry about a thing because with this speaker, every little thing is gonna be alright.

25. Headphones- Meze Audio 9 Classics

These aren’t cheap but they aren’t meant to be. They are meant to be an eco friendly sustainable gift that lasts a lifetime. These headphones are made with natural materials like wood that enhance the sound inherently. It is worth noting that the wood they use is strictly harvested from farms with certifications that only cut down mature trees that have reached the end of their lifespan. They completely avoid plastic and offer a warranty so you can always get them serviced instead of needing to replace them.

26. Sodastream

I’m assuming we don’t need to go over why single use plastic sucks. We have solved our issue of regular hydration with personal water bottles but what do we do if we want fancy water?? The Sodastream is your answer.  Investing in a SodaStream can significantly cut down on plastic bottle usage. The product is centered on a circular use and return system to cut down their carbon footprint even more.  

27. Self Cleaning Water Bottle- LARQ

Reusable water bottles are DEFINITELY better for Momma Earth than plastic but sometimes we can forget we need to wash it….INSERT self cleaning water bottle Larq! This little guy cleans and purifies water by using LED light technology to kill germs and keep cold drinks cold for 24 hours and hot drinks hot for 12 hours. I don’t entirely understand how it works, but it’s pretty freaking cool.

28. Wireless Charger- Nimble

,Nimble is new age tech that wants to give you the best gadgets but also build from high quality materials with less environmental impact. They create their products by collecting existing plastic, aluminum and other waste and turning it back into products. Their drive is exploring renewable sources and minimizing the impact of what their products are made of to be able to focus on the production itself. All of Nimble’s products are, by design, great low impact eco friendly tech gifts.

29. Better Battery Co. Batteries

The world’s first carbon neutral batteries. These batteries are sustainable alkaline batteries that are seamlessly recycled by Better Battery Co. when they are depleted of power. These guys can easily be incorporated as an eco friendly gift with toys or tech. The manufacturing of the batteries themselves are made in a carbon neutral facility. And what they create in CO2 emissions by production and distribution, they offset by investment in carbon reducing wind farms and tree planting.

30. TenTree

As you may be able to guess, they indeed plant 10 trees for every article of clothing purchased. Featured in Fast Company, Forbes, and many others; TenTree approaches every step of their business to align with their environmental and sustainability values. From ensuring international labor standards for fair wages and proper rest time, to sourcing the most sustainably textiles on the market, TenTree is constantly working to offset not only their carbon footprint but mine and yours and your dog’s as well. 

Style: Outerwear, loungewear, graphic tees & hoodies. It’s chill.

31. Organic Basics

Consider them “woke”. Partnering with European factories, ethical practices are high on their list. They have done their research, even their underwear was invented without plastic (most stretchy undies are made with elastic from plastic, surprise). The dye they use is from natural industrial waste that would otherwise end up in a landfill. And because they know nobody can be perfect, they donate 1% of their sales to their partnered environmental groups and grassroots activists.   

Style: Classic basics, activewear, & undies

32. Patagonia

The epitome of outdoorsy fashion and good practice. Their products are made to handle real life and last for years. The garments are made with recycled materials, organic cotton, and materials from farms working toward their organic certification. They too have pledged 1% of their annual sales to environmental groups and grassroots activists. You can be sure that anything bought from Patagonia will be an eco-friendly gift worth the dollars.

Style: Activewear & Loungewear

33. Back Beat Co.

Think California vibes that you can rock in New York City. Using low impact materials such as; hemp, Tencel, and organic and certified cotton, Back Beat Co. wants to style you in ethically made non-boring basics. They pledge to work year after year to improve their low impact practices and recognize it will be an ongoing process. Because They care. And they want you to look good too.

Style: Old School Surf & Skate vibes you can wear anywhere

34. Naadam

Named in honor of where they source their unbelievably soft cashmere, Naadam heads to Mongolia’s Gobi Desert to work directly with the goat herders for ethical, high quality, sustainable cashmere. Naadam donates 10% of their proceeds to support their non-profit partnership with Nomadic herding communities. They want to promote local financial security while also preserving Mongolian culture.

Style: Luxurious Cashmere classics and pieces

35. United By Blue

What started as a cute Philly based outdoor retailer on a mission to clean up the coast has turned into a full apparel and product line that commits to cleaning up 1 POUND of garbage from oceans and waterways with every product purchased. They prioritize regenerative fibers and recycled fabrics to keep their impact low from the very start. Consider them slow fashion, United by Blue takes time to avoid overproduction and maintains the highest certifications in social and environmental health.

Style: Outdoorsy and chic flannel pieces

36. Servv

The king of all gift baskets. Among the vast array of choices, they have baskets that are comprised of sweets, food, and food centric products like bread warmers. Their mission is to lift small scale farmers and artisans out of poverty and help them build sustainable practices. Servv is a nonprofit fair trade organization that cares about the planet. They are powered through sustainable employment, recycled materials, and a strong focus to preserve traditional crafting practices.

37. Alter Eco

It’s here! Chocolate that is chocolate but that is also chocolate that is regenerating ecosystems, fighting climate change, and empowering small scale farmers. Their chocolate is 100% eco-friendly from the moment they source the organic ingredients until the last step of using recyclable or compostable packaging. Alter Eco has achieved net zero carbon emissions, so I think we should celebrate this by eating some of their Salted Caramel Chocolate truffles.

38. Higher Ground Fair Trade Coffee

With every purchase of 100% organic Higher Ground Coffee you are will be helping small-scale family-owned coffee bean farms profit. What sets this eco friendly gift a part from the rest is their forward thinking to protect our planet. To offset their daily energy usage they purchase wind power credits through Renewable Choice Energy as well as partner with non-profits to support the preservation of the wild areas close to their farms.

39. Plonk Wine Club

Choose between their countless unusual sustainable wines from grape regions unfamiliar to the wine enthusiast. All of their wines are organically or dynamically grown ( which means free from pesticides and other chemicals that could have long term damage to the soil), hand chosen by the founder Etty Klein. Their global boutique wine collection is a great gift for the climate conscious wine lover in your life. Or yourself. This is a great self-gifted gift. Happy Holidays!

40. Pure Brewing Beer Company

Do your part for the environment and drink Pure Brewing beer. They are a part of 1% for the Planet. As I’ve mentioned in other list items, being a part of this special pact means that 1% of their annual sales (not just profits) is donated back to environmental non-profit orgs. They take everything into account. For reducing their waste, they use giant rubber bands to secure their beer instead of plastic, reuse grain bags for trash, sell organic cotton merch, and have eliminated plastic snap packs for their to-go beer. They admit they aren’t perfect but they are genuine and they care about their impact.

41. Tara’s Organic Ice Cream

Ice cream with a conscience. Tara’s ice cream is all about keeping sustainability at the forefront of their minds while providing delicious flavors like Cinnamon Cone Crunch and Lemon Curd to keep you intrigued. They use compostable cups and pints, spoons made out of potato starch, recycled napkins, bags, and paper towels and produce their products with eco-friendly ingredients. Even their lighting is energy efficient. And the best part of it all is they deliver for a perfect eco friendly gift!