Family Eco Swaps
What stuck and what hasn't when we attempted to limit the environmental impact after having a child.
It may alarm new parents that babies need so much stuff, especially if, like us, they are conscious of their impact on the environment. It’s not just the big things: buying multiple cots and travel systems, or even the small things: endless plastic bottles, plates, spoons, bibs…or even the mountains of toys - it’s the day to day. It all adds up. There is so much more food waste, the bin is more full with nappies, the washing machine is on constantly and the heating is turned up. I personally found the amount of things that had been added to our household environmental impact was overwhelming, and I thought changes had to be made.
Welcoming a new baby into the household is a monumental change in itself. The whole family routine has to adjust and it takes a while to get used to. In a strange way, I think it was the perfect time to make adjustments to our daily habits and try to reduce our environmental impact. Life was turned upside down when we had our first son, so many of the small changes we made slotted in to our new routine unnoticed.
So here is a list of some of the swaps we made in our household, which help to reduce our environmental impact and make us feel a little less guilty now that we are drowning in food waste and plastic toys.
Some worked and some didn’t. First of all let’s see what stuck.
Cloth Nappies
I’ll get this one out of the way first. These worked for us and are a big swap out - plastic nappies for washable ones. To me it was a no brainer, but that was before the energy price hike. The impact is still such that it is more economical, but to me it was the piles of nappies in landfill I wanted to avoid. The big change is more washing, but you get into a new habit with the new baby and if they fit your baby well and you don’t get leaks, they are a great investment. We use 2 part nappies from Bambino Mio, but I swapped out the velcro fastened wraps for poppers when it came to baby two - they just didn’t last.
Cloth Wipes
These go into the wash with the nappies. They clean up a lot more effectively than the plastic or even biodegradable ones. We have a tub in the lounge ready for messy faces and mucky hands. I’m sure they have saved my sofa a few times. We use Cheeky Wipes.
Washable Period Pads
After having my second baby I couldn’t even look at a tampon, but hated the idea of more landfill from disposable pads. I have tried a few brands of pads (Cheeky Wipes, Bloom & Nora) and much like the nappies I found that we got into the habit of washing and again I’m sure they have saved me a fair bit of money too.
Washable Make Up Wipes
It’s a no-brainer. Stick them in the wash with your whites, as long as you don’t use fabric conditioner they will work well. I only use plastic disposable wipes now if we go away and with having two children, it barely happens at all!
Refill Sprays and Hand Wash
It’s an excuse to buy a sexy glass bottle, and now that Wilko has gone there are no bargains to be had from Mr Muscle et al. I’ve used a few but recommend Eco-Vibe for their anti-bacterial spray, it smells gorgeous as well as Smol. We also use Smol dishwasher tablets, which are cheaper than Finish and have no plastic wrappers. Hand wash brands such as Carex are great for liquid refills. I have also noticed some retailer’s own brands popping up too.
The Milk Float
Babies need milk and there’s no way I am lugging back pints of whole milk up the hill from Tesco. Milk & More is more expensive than buying milk from the supermarket and the colours are all mixed up (red is whole, blue is skimmed) but not having an overflowing plastic bin on recycling day makes me feel smug and they do other things as well as milk too.
Bars of Soap
I love a bar of soap. We wanted to get the kids used to bars so we use Johnson’s for their bath, or Dove if we are feeling generous - otherwise we keep that for ourselves.
Compostable Sponges
These are from Eco-Vibe and they are great, so much so they are always sold out, I am hoping a big retailer catches on that these are much less guilt inducing than their plastic counterparts and last much longer too.
Paper Tape and Eco Xmas Wrapping
For our eldest son’s first and second Christmas I wrapped everything in offcuts from parcels we had gotten delivered throughout the year. I covered presents in crumpled brown paper destined for the recycling bin and wrapped them with ribbons or paper kraft tape. I am not sure I will get away with that this year but we tried - the paper tape is worth the money though, you can recycle it all easily then.
Washing Powder not Liquid
This is an easy swap because when you have a baby you are advised to use Non-Bio anyway. It’s usually the pack with the baby on (trust me I work in pack design) just make it powder instead of liquid; one less plastic bottle in recycling (and importantly a message to the big companies that it is time to stop using unnecessary plastic bottles)
Second Hand Clothes & Toys
We all know hand-me downs are the way to go, I don’t need to convince anyone of that. Somewhere like Vinted, though has made the experience of buying second hand a lot more pleasurable. I used to get into fights on eBay over bundles of trousers after a week waiting for the bidding time to end, whereas now it is much simpler. This is the scenario: kid points at a jumper that they like on the telly one day - stick it in the search bar, 3 people selling it, one in their size; that’ll do - Birthday sorted - same with toys. There is so much on there - makes it harder to sell things, but buying is easy peasy.
Bamboo Toothbrushes
We have had mixed success buying these but we wanted to make sure the kids got used to them early on. They decompose, so less waste but not a lot of brands are bothering so there isn’t loads of choice and often buying them involves a delivery fee. We had a Colgate one available in the big retailers, and for the kids we have bought Wild & Stone.
Silicone Freezer Storage Bags
I have a couple of these I use for things like excess cut vegetables I can save in the freezer for another time. They are quite expensive so I don’t have many and I still use the cheap plastic ones as well, but every little helps, as they say.
What Hasn’t Worked
Shampoo Bars
Both me and my son get easily irritated scalp so we never managed to find a shampoo bar, which didn’t give us dandruff despite our best efforts and I could never get my head around conditioner. My hair is a general nightmare though so it’s probably best I stick to what I know.
Make-Up
I tried Zao vegan mascara, which is refillable but it runs down my face before I even get on the bus to where I am going, leaving me with dreadful panda eyes. The refillable compact foundation powder is great but it’s something I have been unable to refill at times due to stock issues.
Tooth Paste Tablets
These are tablets that you chew to create a foam to then brush your teeth. They come in a more environmentally glass jar and last much longer than their watered down counterparts. They taste disgusting - like chewing on a minty paracetamol; I couldn’t do it.
Cotton Dental Floss
This is basically flossing with a bit of string coated in whatever dental friendly chemical it is that cleans your teeth, but the string is too thick to go in between my teeth (admittedly my teeth are sat very snug together) so this didn’t work for us.
Bamboo Plates
What appealed to me about this product is the natural material and that is probably what lets it down. Bamboo goes mouldy if not dried properly and when you are washing a plate three times a day for your baby it never dries, so it wasn’t long until we ventured out for silicone plates.
Have you made any eco-swaps that have been successful?
Let me know in the comments I would love to hear your thoughts.
Apologies I didn’t mention that all of these recommendations are for UK based delivery. I would especially love if you have any recommendations for other countries to pop them below. 🙌🏻 thank you!
We are lucky enough to have a zero/waste refill shop that opened up near us - so I try to use that where I can. Like you, I could not get on with tooth paste tablets or bar shampoo. The best one I found was the Lush lemon one, but still not perfect. Beauty Pie have started doing some refillable make-up - so far I’ve tried the blusher which is great. Faith In Nature are good for bulk-buying hand wash/body wash if you can store them, too. Oh and bar soap/cleanser bars have been a big hit for me. Cerave do a really good one.