Baby Steps to Making the Earth a Better Place

Earth Day is April 22, and what better way to celebrate than by highlighting some baby steps you can do today to eliminate waste in your home! 

Going green can seem like such a huge change, but making these simple swaps in just one home can make a huge difference over the course of even just one year!  

Baby
Babies average about 250 diapers per month. Using cloth diapers is a great way to eliminate diaper waste from filling our landfills. Plus, cloth diapers save parents money in the long run. Using cloth baby wipes also prevents the wasting of disposable wipes, and they can be washed along with the diapers. They also prevent harsh chemicals from being used on baby’s sensitive skin. 

How to start: Buy two or three cloth diapers to throw in your mix. Cloth diapers are great for the pool or beach, too! You don't have to use cloth 100% of the time. 

Kitchen & Bath
The kitchen is probably where most waste occurs in the home. From paper towels to plastic baggies, there are so many disposable things in our kitchens. However, there are some great solutions to preventing so much waste from items we use every day. 

Marley’s Monsters is a brand that is committed to creating functional and reusable items such as “unpaper towels” and reusable sponges. They also create beautiful face cloths and shower sponges. All of their products are machine washable, and promote a cleaner, greener environment, plus they are made with gorgeous, colorful patterns!

Plastic bags have become such a common household item that the environmental protection agency says over 1 trillion plastic bags are used each year worldwide.  If each household eliminated their usage of plastic baggies in lunchboxes and switched to a reusable storage container, that number would be drastically reduced. 

Stasher silicone food storage containers are a new way to store, cook, or freeze foods, and they are reusable! You may have seen these first on Shark Tank. Made of food grade silicone, they come in various sizes and are a perfect replacement for plastic baggies. My girls love taking their lunches to school, so our family has committed to using reusable lunch containers and water bottles to prevent plastic waste as well. 

How to start: Buy a package of bar towels for the kitchen. Keep reusable totes in the car for shopping trips. For lunches, replace disposable products with reusable food storage containers and bottles for water.

Recycled Products

To promote the recycling of plastic waste, companies have starting creating new products from items that would otherwise head straight to the landfill. Re-Play is a company that creates bright, fun kitchenware for kids from recycled milk jugs! Kids love using these colorful pieces, and parents love that they are dishwasher safe!

How to Start: When buying new items for your home, favor brands that use recycled materials.

Even changing just one small thing your family does can have a big impact on planet earth. What changes will your family implement to make a lasting impact on our world? 

Wendy is a breastfeeding, baby wearing mom of four who lives in central Illinois where she blogs at TheMessyMom.net.