Zero Waste Kids

Rebecca writes:

We are a family of four living in the mountain west in the U.S. My husband and I both work full-time, and we have two boys, 4 and 1. We are not completely zero-waste yet, but I feel very good about the amount trash we generate as a family of four and about the changes we’ve made. 

My biggest advice to new parents is to keep a consistent lifestyle after you have kids: kids can eat the same food you eat, wear second-hand clothes if you wear them, and find their toys and gadgets used, just like you do. Babies need very little: a few soft and simple clothes, a place to sleep, a carseat if you have a car, bottles if you need some, diapers, maybe a cloth carrier or backpack. Any baby gear you want can be found in excellent condition from private sellers or even thrift shops. Thrift stores have especially nice clothes in sizes 0-12 months since most babies grow out of them so quickly. My biggest realization as a new parent was that we could still get things AFTER the baby was born! For some reason, I imagined we would never leave the house, but taking a little excursion with the baby was sometimes welcome. If you find you need something, you can always get it later. Or, wait a couple of weeks and you may not need it anymore--babies change quickly.

Food

For the most part, our kids eat what we eat. Cynthia Lair's Feeding the Whole Family was very influential to me in this regard. Since we eat over 95% of our meals at home, about 90% vegetarian, and largely cook from zero-waste ingredients, this is the diet our kids end up eating too. 

We eat oatmeal for breakfast every weekday, which we all love, but eggs, pancakes, shakes, or muffins baked without a paper are also popular. During the year, my son packs a lunch, usually bread and cheese and a cookie from the freezer, and he drinks a cup of water from school with it. I wrap everything in a cloth towel and put it into his lunch sack.

My kids do not expect "kid food" because we never have it around. I often bake batches of cookies and freeze them to dole out from time to time, and my older son loves raisins and plain cereal from the bulk bins. That said, if my older son's friends offer him a packaged snack, I never say no. I want my kids to be gracious and friendly and recognize that other people can have different values. 

For babies, I breastfed my second baby for six months, which was great for both of us and completely zero-waste! (I wasn't as successful breastfeeding my first, so don't feel bad if breastfeeding didn't work out for you.) However, when I went back to work, I had to supplement with formula. Babies have really specific nutritional needs and I don't think there is a good zero-waste alternative to formula. From an economic standpoint, however, formula is highly regulated in the U.S., so unless your baby has a sensitive stomach or food intolerance, generic formula is perfectly fine. I did find glass bottles second-hand, though. I also made my own baby food by cooking and pureeing vegetables—not because I am fancy but because it was so cheap and easy.

Diapers

We used cloth for both of my babies at home after about four weeks when they were big enough for the adjustable one-size kind. I bought older pocket diapers from Craigslist and replaced the elastic in the legs myself, but there is a healthy resale market for almost new cloth diapers as well. Our care-giver uses disposables, but we use cloth at home—over 50% of the time. When my oldest was toilet training, we used extra-large cloth diapers at night until he was able to stay dry all night. I feel like Pull-ups are a marketing ploy.

Cloth wipes are fairly easy to throw into a diaper pail and then into the laundry with the diapers. I use the Chagrin Valley diaper cream. It comes in a reusable tin and works well with cloth diapers. They also sell salves that can replace over-the-counter ointments for scrapes and burns. 

Clothes

I have a small second-hand wardrobe for myself and my kids. Just like creating a capsule wardrobe for yourself, creating one for your kids takes a little time and involves a bit of trial and error. Now I know which colors, patterns, and fibers I prefer, but if I buy something that I don’t end up using much, I don’t hesitate to put it back into circulation by donating it right back. I frequent a couple of thrift stores and use Ebay as a back-up for specific needs. I do laundry once a week, so each of my kids has about 8 shirts, 7 pairs of pants, a sweatshirt, and a jacket. Almost all their clothes can mix and match, which makes it easy for my oldest to pick out his own outfits. We live in a four-season climate, so I have a similar number of items for warm weather.

Toys and Presents

We haven't yet bought them any birthday or Christmas presents ourselves, thanks to the generosity of our families, and we just don't buy things for them otherwise. They don't see many commercials and we don't go shopping except to the thrift store, so they don't really ask for things. As I write this, it all sounds kind of miserly and extreme, but in practice it really doesn't feel that way at all. We spend lots of time going to the pool and the park, hiking, going to community festivals, and just playing at home in a kind of boring, low-key way, and they still have more than enough toys to be happy (see the photo of what they have accumulated in gifts in just four years; it includes more plastic than I would like but they play with everything). My mom was a kindergarten teacher so I’ve also inherited a lot of children’s books. I'm sure their desires will change as they get older and we'll probably adjust our habits. I always had an allowance and part-time jobs in order to buy the things I wanted as a teenager and I imagine we might do something similar with our kids.

Our kids are young enough that we haven't yet entered the world of extreme birthday parties. When we do, we'll probably request "no gifts" for our kids and skip goodie bags for the guests. To me, the party itself is the present for everyone. As for gifts for other kids' birthdays, I try to think of what I would have wanted as a kid. I loved receiving new crayons and art supplies, books, sheet music, and even money; I also think kids would like gift certificates that reflect their interests. I also make cloth pouches from repurposed fabric and zippers and could imagine filling them with some bulk candy or a couple of dollar bills for younger kids. If you have a larger budget, tickets to a movie or a zoo or another local center for the child and a parent or the whole family would be really fun.

So, we are not completely zero-waste, but when shopping for my kids, I follow the same rules as I do for myself: keep purchases minimal, buy high quality, second-hand, unpackaged, or in glass, paper, or metal packaging as a last alternative. For babies and toddlers, you can often borrow from someone or just wait a while and you might not need it anymore! Minimalist and zero-waste blogs have great resources and inspiration.

Thank you for sharing, Rebecca! Click here for more zero-waste baby must-haves. Read Meredith Tested, Allotment Recipes, Greener Family and Gippsland Unwrapped to see how parents who work full time live zero waste.