To think the baby/ children market has a lot to answer for in terms of plastic

[Peaplant20]

I’m a recent FTM and everything is made of plastic with very few affordable alternatives - all the must have toys, weaning equipment, I was even looking at a tuff tray earlier to buy LO for Christmas and trying to think how I could make my own non-plastic version (metal tray on legs?). It’s like the whole industry is just plastic.

Second hand plastic stuff is a better environmental choice than new wooden stuff

This is why having one child or no children the best thing for the environment.

We just try and get everything second hand

@Peaplant20

I’m a recent FTM and everything is made of plastic with very few affordable alternatives - all the must have toys, weaning equipment, I was even looking at a tuff tray earlier to buy LO for Christmas and trying to think how I could make my own non-plastic version (metal tray on legs?). It’s like the whole industry is just plastic.

this is something I have noticed as a new mum too. I've been using aldi and Lidl for Xmas gifts as they had loads of nice wooden toys for nieces/ nephews etc. would honestly never have thought much of this before havin my baby but now being faced with mountains of plastic toys/ equipment etc it's really made me think more about what I'm buying

Must have was probably a poor choice of words. I really meant popular toys or toys that other mums recommend (I always ask for recommendations as a FTM). I have a fair few second hand bits although a lot of toys seem to be mainly plastic but with a few soft bits so they can’t go in the washing machine but I’m put off them as not sure how to clean them properly and I imagine the soft bits to have been sucked on and a bit gross! Maybe I’m being a bit precious, what do other people do? All plastic is easy to clean and soft toys can go in the washing machine so I’m happy to get those second hand!

Food packaging wasn't all plastic when I was a kid.

I humbly submit that so much plastic in/around food is a much worse problem than baby things esp. toys -- at least baby things are meant to be used often and for months & can even be resold & passed on to other babies for years to come.

There's nothing inherently wrong with plastic - it lasts, is easy to clean, is light so uses less fuel to transport. It's disposable, one use stuff we need to deal with the most.

This. It’s single use plastic (like those bloody kinder eggs) that’s the problem. We’ve got plastic toys bought for DD1 (she’s 4 and a half now) and they’re being used for DC3. They’ll still be in good condition afterwards and be donated to the charity shop. So in that sense plastic isn’t necessarily bad.

Maybe I’m being a bit precious, what do other people do?
I’ve washed some toys with that are soft toy/plastic mix in the washing machine (on 30 but with napisan in as it kills bacteria).

Also, our tuff tray has lasted years and is still in brilliant condition. I don’t think I’d want a metal one as the plastic ones are fairly light for if they manage to pull it over on themselves (as DD2 has done).

Unfortunately most of kids stuff are plastic if not all.
I stopped buying any toys for my kids for one year now but recently I tried whirli for swapping toys and I am really thrilled
My kids now choose a toy or two keep it for a week or two then swap it again for a different toy😀 less clutter less plastic waste and more play time.
If anyone wants to try whirli there is a discount code that you can use YSWY2IFH

A friend has 3 young children. She filled two green bins with plastic and two black bins on Boxing Day. It’s awful. How is our planet supposed to exist.

@User20393442

This is why having one child or no children the best thing for the environment.

Bit late for that. Op can’t send dc back to the stork, can she?

@TuftyMarmoset

Second hand plastic stuff is a better environmental choice than new wooden stuff

My own Lego that I played with as a child - the wheels and windows were definitely better - is still in use (we've passed it on), but I retained a bucket each of Lego and Duplo I bought to entertain visiting kids and grown ups 35 years ago.

As many others have said, it's the single use plastic and the throwaway attitude that I found the biggest issue since having children.

We have a lot of handed down plastic and wooden toys (including some from when my mum and her siblings were young) and all are well cared for a played with regularly. Until now, we have steered clear of cheap toys, free gifts with magazines/kinder eggs etc. Eldest is now in reception and I am absolutely horrified at the volume of cheap tat we receive at birthday parties. None of it lasts longer than a week but we receive some bit of useless landfill waste every single week and I feel so powerless.

The attitude to disposing instead of cleaning or mending is also a huge issue. The number of people who will dispose of baby clothes when the slightest bit of poo touches them instead of cleaning it off, disposing of toys instead of gluing back together drives me crazy

We used silicone or bamboo when weaning and children's metal cutlery so we're able to avoid plastic. When older, we use metal bowls and plates (my grandparents have had these since they got married and passed them on)

I have mixed feelings on this. Yes, we should be trying to reduce plastic use (though single use is the biggest issue) but this is used as an excuse to push ludicrously overpriced wooden and bamboo toys, feeding equipment etc to parents who seem primed to spend. Those bamboo bowls that people seem to spend £20 on...!?!? Some very clever product designer types have realised that when it comes to their kids, some people don't have any sense of what is good value. Hence all the buggy manufacturers selling branded footmuffs for close to £100, the world's most expensive pillow (aka Sleepyhead) etc. Obviously everyone gets to spend their money how they wish but I do find the pricing model of many 'must-have' (often supposedly eco) items for babies to be a bit gross

we buy second hand toys mostly. we've got plenty of plastic ones! but will pass them on or sell when we're finished with them. we have some new plastic toys too - where these couldn't be found second hand and will last a very long time - quadro for example!

we buy DCs clothes mostly 2nd hand.

We also use cloth wipes and nappies (easier than most people think!) and for cleaning we use washable wipes. we have no single use wipes anymore.

OMG - yes, Lego - there must be enough lego in the world to build a big dinosaur for every child.

Still it is churned out.

As others said it's single-use/disposability that's the issue - I don't need to offer an example because they are everywhere. One of my happiest lessons, four years into this parenting lark, is that giving and receiving and swapping kids' clothes, toys, books, furniture etc is the way to go.

We buy second hand. Bundles on Facebook, from the charity shops etc. So much cheaper

It's consumption in general that is the bigger problem. Rather than looking at for plastic free alternatives, just don't buy the thing at all or buy second hand. OK you have to live, and you have to be a matyr, but really think twice. For example, the tuff tray. Would a metal one really be better? Imagine the energy cost to transport this thing, plus it's using up valuable metal. Yes metal may be able to be recycled but these things often aren't. Actually a tray for a baby to play on is something you don't need at all, or it's something that would be fine second hand. Same with special weaning equipment, having hundreds of toys, wardrobe stuffed with clothes, special baby food and snacks in tiny plastic bags (normal food is fine!).

I'm not saying this is you OP but a lot of people want to save the environment by not buying less, but by having all the things they want to buy available in a guilt free alternative. That isn't possible because there is always a cost to producing it.

Also see, people saying they would be vegan/vegetarian when there is a milk/cheese/meat alternative that tastes exactly like the original, well that's fine but there just isn't and we have to come to terms with that.

OP I could hug you.
Manufacturing of this shit needs to stop.
The retailers and manufacturers are just as bad as each other. No consideration for the environment and a dire model for saving the planet. It's not regulated properly either so then we can get into politics and blah blah so just don't buy it. We need to stop it right now.

None of this is simple though is it?
Every piece of plastic tat is made by someone, who gets paid for making it and can therefore feed their own children. Then there are a long line of packers and distributors and wholesalers and retailers, all of whom have a right to work and get paid and to eat!

I’m not advocating more plastic, far from it, but not buying stuff, or just buying second hand stuff is not a panacea fit the world’s problems. It creates whole new problems of its own.

I agree. I love wooden toys but when you have a toddler who still chews everything the paint tends to come off them.

I compromise by trying to buy plastic second hand. Good quality plastic toys can be used over and over again. It's the shit plastic that drives me nuts because it breaks after a couple of months and ends up in the bin. At least good quality plastic toys can go to others.

My DC are 8 and 6 and we've bought very little new plastic/disposable stuff in relation to them.

Both breastfed so no formula and bottles.
Cloth nappies and wipes.
Bamboo plates and cutlery.
Clothes mostly second hand, and almost everything is passed on when outgrown.
Toys almost all second hand and/or wooden.
We repair broken toys or damaged clothes if at all possible.

As they've got older it's become a bit harder to avoid, they do have devices, lego, dolls, etc, but not in vast quantities and these should all last many years. We also bought a new tuff tray but it's still in regular use now (currently as an archery target in thr dining room!).

For things like board games we try to avoid the very plasticky ones which are usually gimmicky rubbish anyway, the best games that are played with over and over tend to be the more traditional card and wood types. We do plastic free party bags.

Once you're in the mindset it becomes second nature to buy more sustainably.

I saw a fidget toy advent calendar advertised in the Range. 25 various bits of crap quality plastic which will be landfill in a few weeks and will proceed to sit there for however many thousands of years.

Oh gosh that bloody calendar, the whole point of poppits and fidget spinners I thought was to help children focus and calm down, so why do they need 24 of them! We get plastic toys second hand and I try and get wooden alternatives of things, yes wood still take resources and production but on the whole it looks more attractive and therefore more likely to be reused and passed on then added to landfill.