Sustainable living 2.0: how to build a vegan home

You’d probably be surprised to learn how many of the resources that our homes are made of contain animal products. Researching ingredients can be tricky though – in a hardware store, you’ll hardly find clear labels or separate aisles for plant-based materials

We recommend looking out for natural resources without any additives. Besides, there are at least a few synthetic materials that come with an explicit “vegan” label. To give you an overview, here’s a list of six options you may consider for a vegan home:

You’d probably be surprised to learn how many of the resources that our homes are made of contain animal products. Researching ingredients can be tricky though – in a hardware store, you’ll hardly find clear labels or separate aisles for plant-based materials

We recommend looking out for natural resources without any additives. Besides, there are at least a few synthetic materials that come with an explicit “vegan” label. To give you an overview, here’s a list of six options you may consider for a vegan home:

• Wood has always been a go-to for builders – not only because of its natural look and feel, but also because of its eco-friendly aspects. It is particularly suitable for projects such as dormers on the roof or sheds in the garden.

• Clay offers a variety of benefits, including a positive impact on indoor air quality. Berlin-based architect Diébédo Francis Kéré has brought the world’s oldest building material to the forefront again – which earned him a Pritzker Prize in 2022.

• Linoleum is often considered “synthetic”, while the popular floor covering in fact consists of natural and plant-based ingredients.

• Cork is equally free of chemical additives or animal products: for vegan homes, you can use it as a sound-proofing flooring or as an insulator in outer walls.

• Hemp has excellent physical properties. It provides the basis for insulating materials, building panels, and roof tiles.

• Bamboo has seen a major comeback in the building industry. With its unique composition and aesthetics, the so-called “vegetable steel” is a perfect choice for cruelty-free constructions.

• Vegan plaster has been put on the map as well, thanks to the German company Sakret Sachsen. PETA honoured this achievement with the “Innovator Award“ in 2022. Sakret Sachsen keeps the entire production process cruelty-free, down to the bottling and advertising.

While the variety of plant-based alternatives keeps growing in supermarkets, the trend has not yet gained a strong foothold in other areas. Vegan architecture is still in its infancy, which means that realising such a project will require a lot of pioneering work. To find out how a certain material is produced, you need to go back to the original source – a task that might prove quite tricky, due to complicated and obscure supply chains.

• Concrete and cement oftentimes contain meat-and-bone meal from slaughterhouse waste.

• Adhesives may include bone meal as well, alongside milk protein or gelatine.

• Many insulating materials are based on sheep wool.

• Beef tallow and lard are occasionally added because of their water-repellent properties.

In conventional homes, you can find animal products at every corner. Wool carpets, leather couches, down-filled cushions, silk curtains – the list goes on. Even wall paint or glued wooden furniture might turn out to be non-vegan. As of now, there is no legal requirement to specifically mark materials of animal origin. But more and more companies choose to do so voluntarily. With a bit of research, you’ll come across a decent variety of vegan furniture.

German manufacturer Room in a Box, for example, offers bedsteads made from cardboard. Their innovative concept is not only cruelty-free, but also sets new standards in terms of sustainability: the Bed 2.0 requires 8,000 times less energy than conventional models during the manufacturing process.   

Last but not least, you should take a closer look the products used for household chores. Many detergents and cleaning agents contain surfactants sourced from animals – not to mention that the production process oftentimes entails torturous testing methods. Recognizing the lack of options for vegan households, the German start-up Everdrop has developed an entire range of cruelty-free and sustainable detergents. The products are customised to fit the water hardness in your location and delivered in eco-friendly packaging.

Keeping your entire home vegan comes can present various challenges – from the insulation in your house facade to the cleaning agents in your cabinet. But veganism is not about doing everything right. Rather, it’s about taking small steps that will make a big difference in the long run. If you don’t know where to start, just focus on one aspect at first. Maybe painting the walls in a new vegan colour, or buying cutton instead of silk linen? Once you’ve set the ball rolling, you’ll soon discover more and more ideas to minimise your ecological footprint and improve your quality of life at the same time.