6 simple ways to reduce your plastic waste

The fight against single-use plastic has recently gained huge attention and support helped by BBC documentaries like “Blue Planet 2” and “Drowning in Plastic” showing the horrifying damage plastic waste is having on our planet and wildlife. For years Natural Baby Shower have been fighting the fight against single-use plastic and we have made it our priority to provide parents with the most environmentally friendly options around to help ensure the world is as healthy as possible for your little one to grow up in.

For a long time, the public and governments focus has been on recycling, but we believe it should be the priority to reduce the amount of waste produced in the first place. The stark reality is our throwaway culture is killing our planet – our plastic use is predicated to quadruple by 2050 which would spell disaster for our oceans and wildlife.

But we want to help you bring up a baby with a carbon footprint as small as their own tiny feet. So, we have handpicked our favourite products offering the perfect alternatives to single use plastic items.

Consider nappy alternatives

In the age of convenience, it’s easy to depend on disposable nappies but these are a huge contributor to landfill waste. Your little one gets through ALOT of nappies, with 3 billion nappies a year ending up on landfill¹.

We know the idea of reusable nappies can seem scary and hard work but reusable nappies have come a long way since the days of a towelling square loosely held together by a safety pin. Today they are cleverly designed with beautiful prints and come in a variety of different materials looking very similar to disposable nappies.

Not only are reusable nappies better for the environment, they are also better for your purse. Despite the initial pay out at the start for reusable nappies (you’ll need around 16-24 nappies in total) it will still be cheaper in the long run than using disposable nappies. Using cloth nappies will average out at about 0.03p per change compared to 8.7p per disposable².

Totsbots have made it easy to make the switch one step at a time too with their little mini kits allowing you to trial the nappies. They are also the only reusable nappy brand to be completely Oekotex 100 certified. 

Wooden toys

Make play time a plastic free zone. Plastic toys have been a popular part of every child’s toy collection, but we can’t get enough of wooden toys and think everyone should make the swap. Not only do wooden toys look gorgeous compared to those brightly coloured flashing plastic toys they are also much better for the environment. Remember wood is bio-degradable, plastic is not.

Made from petroleum, most plastic toys contain toxic phthalates, BPA, fire retardants, and other chemicals that are neither safe for your child nor eco-friendly. If that’s not enough to convince you to make the swap, wooden toys are also much more durable and don’t need any of those constantly running out batteries – Hurrah!

Don’t settle for any old wooden toy though, choose ones made from sustainable materials and free from chemicals like Plan toys. Plan toys offer a range of imaginative, fun and safe toys created from rubberwood, a by-product of the latex industry, water-based non-toxic colours and all packaging is recycled.

Eco Teethers

Sophie la Giraffe is a customer favourite, regularly topping our top seller lists and a personal favourite of ours too! As well as being one of the cutest teethers on the market, it’s also one of the most environmentally friendly on the market too. Made from 100% natural rubber sourced from carefully cared for farms in Malaysia, Sophie is fully biodegradable and a perfect safer alternative to plastic teethers that are full on chemicals.

Reusable food pouches

Those colourful pouches full of pre-made baby food are becoming the answer to all over-stretched parent’s dreams. Easy, convenient and perfect for on the go! But this convenience comes at a price to your purse AND the environment. These popular disposable pouches are made from multiple layers of materials meaning the recyclable components are impossible to separate out.

Drum roll please… enter the reusable baby food pouch. All of the convenience, with none of the waste. The babymoov Foodii Starter kit is the perfect alternative to disposable baby food pouches. This kit has everything you need to easily prep and store your little one’s food whilst saving the planet by reducing the waste you create. 

Not only are you saving the planet with this one by reducing your amount of waste, you are also helping your little one to eat healthier by preparing their own meals yourselves. 

GoSili

Straws have become the mascot for the fight against single-use plastic with many restaurant chains and businesses ditching the plastic ones and swapping to eco alternatives. Rightly so, with recent figures showing that plastic straws are the 11^th most common item found in ocean trash (2017) and with American’s alone using 500 million straws a day – that’s enough straws to circle the earth 2.5 times³.

GoSili are the perfect smart alternative to plastic kitchen and eating products. They offer a huge eco range from silicone cups, straws and travel snack bag. All GoSili baby and adult food products are BPA free, durable and made from 100% silicone - with clever technology GoSili has created a range that is dishwasher and microwave safe, whilst also saving the oceans from discarded plastic.

Bottle it up

Globally we go through 1million plastic water bottles a minute – that’s 50,000 in the 3 seconds it took for you to read that statement⁴. With figures like that we believe it is about time people pass on the plastic bottles and embrace a bottle that will last years and reduce plastic waste. It’s also a little crazy people will pay for water in a plastic bottle when they can get the stuff for free from their tap using a reusable bottle.

We believe the perfect reusable bottles for the whole family come from Pura. These bottles are a parent’s dream and one of the best eco investments you can make. These bottles grow with your little one, starting as a baby bottle then transforms into a sippy cup, sports bottle or snack pot – all simply by changing the lid. 

So there you go. Six really easy ways to greatly reduce the amount of single use plastic you and your family consume each year. Does making the swap feel that daunting? We hope the answer is now no. 

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