are you courageous enough to go back to real nappies?

HAVING a young family can hugely increase your reliance on plastic, particularly single-use plastics, but if you’re keen to make a difference, there are still plenty of easy ways you can cut back...

NAPPIES

CONSIDER using reusable fabric nappies instead of disposables. It doesn’t even have to be a 24/7 commitment. Why not try just using reusable ones at home and disposables when you are out? Or use disposables when your baby is tiny and needs frequent changes, and ease into reusables as your child gets a little older. See goreal.org.uk for more advice and local listings.

There are nappy laundering services in London and some UK local authorities offer subsidised nappy schemes to encourage the use of ‘real nappies’.

TOYS

PLASTIC toys often break so they don’t always get passed to the next sibling, instead ending up in landfill.

Local recycling centres won’t accept plastic toys and games as part of the kerbside collection service. You can dismantle them to recycle batteries and battery packs. Toys in a good condition can be passed on to local playgroups, charity shops and hospitals.

However, be wary of tired, old, or damaged plastic hand-me-downs. A recent study by the University of Plymouth warned that while toys made after 1995 must be safe, there is no retroactive regulation regarding older toys.

The researchers found many secondhand toys released bromine, cadmium and lead at levels that exceed the limits set by the EU Toy Safety Directive.

The lead researcher Dr Andrew Turner said: ‘Consumers should be made more aware of the potential risks associated with small, mouthable old plastic toys or components.’ While it’s good to recycle, ‘previously used toys have the potential to create a legacy of chemical contamination for younger children.’

Roar Rude Trangbaek, a spokesperson for Lego, has said: ‘You should not be concerned if you have old bricks in a good shape and condition. But if you have old bricks that are broken, you should dispose of them.’

Choose wood and retro toys and search for soft toys made from natural fibres such as cotton or bamboo in order to avoid ones which contain plastic stuffing and flame retardant chemicals. Find a range at beehivetoyfactory.co.uk, gltc.

co.uk and mulberrybush.co.uk. There’s a good selection of wooden toys at argos.co.uk, too.

CUPS AND PLATES

ALTHOUGH UK experts say the potential health impact is minimal, if you are worried about the possibility of plastic toxic chemicals leaching into your children’s food, explore non-plastic cups, plates and bowls. Stainless steel dishes are a rather great durable option, and can be completely sterilised in a dishwasher at high temperatures, too. Paper plates might seem easily recyclable, but once contaminated with food they can only be put with the rubbish. The recycling rate of squeezable plastic-aluminium food pouches is thought to be 50 times worse than single-use coffee cups — less than one in 20,000 is recycled, and two thirds are sent to landfill.

One baby food company, Ella’s Kitchen (ellaskitchen.co.uk), offers a recycling service with drop-off points around the UK.

Switch to glass jars if you can, or, when you’re out, decant pureed food into reusable food pouches, such as Fill n Squeeze refillable baby food pouches (£4.50 for ten, boots.com) or pouches from Ocado (£10.99 for three, ocado.com).

AdApted by Louise Atkinson from Life Without plastic: the practical StepBy-Step Guide to Avoiding plastic to Keep Your Family And the planet Healthy by Chantal plamondon and Jay Sinha, published by page Street publishing at £13.99 © Chantal plamondon and Jay Sinha 2018.