Become a Plastic Free Parent. Your Checklist.

As the world starts to change around us, more are becoming aware of how our habits effect our planet. This is never more true than when we become parents. Seeing the world destroyed has a new worrying light when it’s your own offspring set to inherit it. Even if you were already as eco-conscious as you thought you could possibly be, becoming a parent sees a whole other level of waste and consumerism that I want to help you avoid.

This list is as much about what you DON’T need as much as you do, because actually those few plastic toys you buy, or the nappies you use aren’t going to change the world, but tackling over consumption is.

1. Consumer less.

The first and most important lesson when wanting to reduce your plastic or waste is to just become more aware of what we are buying. Ultimately this is the BIGGEST thing we can do.

Sure if your spend your money on hundreds of wooden toys it’s better than hundreds of plastic toys? Or is it?

These things still take resource to be made and shipped. Just because they are fancy and wooden doesn’t make them all that environmentally friends, especially if you brought them on Amazon. (Puts face in my hands as I remember all those “eco”, wooden teethers I brought on Amazon 2 years ago.) The things is she already had good enough teething toys but they were all that Pinteresty).

Hey, we live, we learn, we do better once we know better.

The only way to go about this is to ask our ourselves “do I really need this.” Then give it a week, or a month, or even serval months depending on how big the purchase is, and ask yourself again. Often I’ve forgotten why I even wanted something. But sometimes I have found on more than one occasion I’ve thought “damn, wish I brought it because it would be useful right now.” When this happens I then try to either find it second hand or buy the most ethical version I can of it.

The same applies when shopping for your children. Is this something they will play with, that will last, and can potentially be passed on. Can I buy it second hand? Which leads me to….

2. Shop Second Hand.

The number two top thing you can do to reduce you plastic, waste and consumption is to buy what you need secondhand. If your reading this as a new parent and thinking about baby stuff, babies use things for such a small amount of time. This means number 1, there is a lot of baby stuff out there in good condition waiting for you to buy it and 2, you can save a ton of money.

My top baby essentials to buy second hand are…

Clothes. Avoid fast fashion at all cost.
Pram. Ours is still going strong 2 years later and was a faction of the cost.
Toys. Hunt down classic vintage and wooden toys on eBay, their so much nicer.
Baby essentials such as bouncers, monitors, baby baths etc.

Mother throwing toddler in the air, both wearing second hand clothes in a green field.

3. Invest in Cloth Wipes.

If you do nothing else on this list to reduce your plastic make this the one you really give a try.

£100 MILLION. That’s the cost of removing the fat berg from UK sewage systems every year!!! “But I don’t flush my wipes so I’m not part of the problem” I hear you say.

Well what about this stat? 11 BILLION. That’s how many wipes the UK uses every year. Your wipes may not end up in the sewers if you don’t flush them but that means their ending up in landfill or being incinerated which is contributing to carbon emissions. Even if you buy so called eco wipes, which claim to be bio degradable or compostable, if their going in the bin the result is the same.

Where they end up is also only part of the problem. They have to be manufactured from something, often cotton, which we know is an unsustainable, thirsty product, or tree pulp which contributes to deforestation. Many wipes also contain plastic, which in single use form is unsustainable to make. The packaging, even in eco ranges are in plastic, which can not be recycled. It then has to be shipped to you, using more resources, for you to use each wipe just the once.

Enter Cloth Wipes.

Even if you told me that as of tomorrow all single use wipes were now sustainable. Even if you told me they are now having a positive effect on the planet, adding to it rather than taking away from it, I would say a big “NO THANK YOU.” I’m keeping my cloth wipes.

Why? Well because they work so damn well and they cost me next to nothing.

If you need convincing on the day to day use of them I’ve put it all in a post for you “The Complete Guide to Cloth Baby Wipes.”

I have around 50 wipes from a brand named Cheeky Wipes, which cost me £30 pounds. I’ve been using these for 2 years and will use them for many many more.

It’s simple. I have a pile next to the bathroom sink. When I need one I wet it under the tap. When I’m done I throw it in a wet bag or the nappy bucket. I wash them with whatever else I’m washing, though because we use cloth nappies I usually wash them with these. I hang them up to dry with all other washing, pile them back up and repeat.

Their nicer on babies bottom, more grippy for wiping up messy situations and your never going to run out. A win win if you ask me.

4. Consider Cloth Nappies.

A slightly harder switch compared to cloth wipes is considering if you’ll use cloth nappies. If of course your at the baby stage.

Choice cloth nappies in plastic free parenting. Image of close parent pop in nappy in squirrel print

It will feel like your making a massive jump and doing something completely different. Perhaps you feel like it would be far too much work, or the initial outlay just sounds super high. These are all valid point of course, but one thing I do know for sure is, once you start you’ll wonder why you didn’t do it sooner. That’s not just my opinion, its the opinion of everyone I know that uses cloth nappies.

Over time you will save a significant amount of money, they look super cute, there are benefits for baby and of course the environmental side is huge.

If you interested in starting with cloth nappies I have an entire series just for beginners that will help you with everything you need to know. Find it HERE.

5. Be the Queen or King of the snack box.

Okay, now we’ve got the heavy stuff out the way. Here’s the stuff you probably thought you would find on a plastic free parenting post. Reducing the amount of plastic in your kids lunch box.

The good news is this will help you give healthier snacks too. Fruit comes package free. Buying bulk, I don’t necessarily mean from a Zero Waste shop but just large bags. This can be done with everything from crisps to dried fruit. Okay so little Dairylea pots are easy to pop in a lunch box but really it’s just as easy to pop some cream cheese in a small pot and some bread sticks in a bag and pop it in their lunch box.

Don’t forget leftovers. I’m forever making a little extra pasta pesto or whatever they may be eating and giving it as a snack the next day. As long as it hot my little one with eat it all.

Generally being prepared with snacks will save on plastic too as there will be no last minute dash in a shop. Remember too, it isn’t all about being completely zero waste. Our society makes this too hard for us. But its about cutting down as much as we can. Even opting for the large pot of yoghurt rather than the mini ones for kids. It all adds up and reduces things for us and the planet.

6. Invest in a good flask.

This is the best parenting hack anyone ever taught me. Invest in a good hot drinks flask and always take it with you. It’s amazing how much more tolerance you have for slow walking, stopping to look at every leaf small people when there’s a hot cup of coffee in your hand. It will also not only reduce the amount of money you spend in coffee shops but will make you resist that take out cup. Plus you can sit on the bench and watch them play, because no-ones kids behave well in coffee shops you want to sit and relax in right?

7. Water bottles for everyone.

Do people actually buy plastic bottles of water these day? I hope not but I know that’s not true.

Everyone in our house has their own reusable water bottle. My step sons are now old enough to be responsible for their own but just in case they forget and I need to refill you can download a app called RefillMyBottle. It tells you the nearest spot to you for refilling. Essential on long days out.

8. Community toy rotation.

This is my favorite. Ever feel like your drowning in toys? Yeah me too. I buy don’t buy many toys yet they seem to just find their way into our house and pile up in corners. Also my kids don’t play with them all that often. They play with something constantly for a while then forget about it. This is were toy rotations come into play, but I have to admit I’m rubbish at packing away a load and getting new ones out every few weeks. I mean where am I suppose to store them all so their out of site but not too far away that I can get them out again in a month. It just never happens. But you could do it with friends and neighbours! Even family.

My Mum looks after my daughter once a week, I find switching toys from her house to ours helps them get new life in my daughters eyes. Toy swaps with neighbours always goes down a treat, or buying and taking back to the charity shops. Yes that’s right I buy them and then take them back. But really they cost so little and then we end up with too many so I take a few back. It’s nice that my daughter can go to the little community charity shop after play ground to pick something but when I see there are things no longer played with I donate them back from another child to enjoy and the cycle continues.

9. Ditch the Pouches.

All those easy to use, easy to eat pouches, yep, I’m afraid they have to go. Actually I never started buying them so I wouldn’t miss them and if you haven’t yet I advice this.

For fruit pouches opt for making smoothies and freezing them into lollies instead. Invest in some ice lolly makers like these. You can buy refillable pouches but I see them as a little bit of a faff you probably won’t us all that often unless your super organised. I like it when I can make something in a serious batch and freeze it otherwise they A, go off before we eat them all, or B, I don’t make them often enough. But whatever works for you.

The same goes for meals, espeically when weaning. I would make a meal, lets say bolengese sauce, making it without salt, or spice depending on what it is, fill an ice cube tray with portions and then carry on adding whatever we wanted in it to make it more for grown up taste. I could easily make 15 baby size portions for the freezer, which now is probably 4 toddlers sized potions. In fact I did this with so many of our meals we were over run with baby portions of everything for months, barely spending a penny.

Warning: If you do this be beware kids develop a taste for the good stuff. A few times I’ve been caught out and brought a jar or a pouch of something for my daughter. Both times she turned her nose up and had to go hungry until we got home and I cooked her a proper dinner.

Toddler pictures in hollow of a tree. Plastic free parenting.

10. Gift Wrap responsibly.

Lastly when you do buy your children presents and toys which of course you will do at some point I want to ask that you wrap it responsibly. Especially with the festive season coming up. Did you know the UK uses 227,000 miles of wrapping paper over the Christmas season.

If you are going to wrap their gifts in paper try to buy recycled paper and buy it brown. You may think this is boring but with some pretty ribbon (that you can use time and again) it will look really pretty. Wrapping paper that is shiny or has glitter on cannot be recycled.

Or you can opt for cloth. Over the last few years I have saved pieces of cloth, old scarfs and other bits of material to use as wrapping paper. I then save it to use again. It looks really pretty all wrapped up with different colours and textures, but lets face it kids don’t notice they just pull the stuff off and go for the present. Unless their babies, then it’s all about playing in the box.