Eco friendly cot/pram question...

[hopefully]

This is a question for an expecting friend of mine. She is fairly (but not obsessively) eco/environmentally friendly, and wants to buy the Stokke sleepi cot and a bugaboo chameleon (price is no object for this lady).

Basically she's feeling a little eco-guilty, and is wondering whether the stokke cot is a good thing, given its sustainable nature (you can use it for a long time with the upgrades etc), but doesn't know about the company's corporate social responsibility - anyone got any ideas about it? Also, there seems to be no eco-friendly pram option, so she's going for the chameleon. Anyone got any thoughts on either of those and/or a better option?

I suppose buying a used one of each would be the more eco-friendly idea - how would that go down?

hmm... not a bad idea. I suspect given her vast quantities of money and/or snob tendancies (she's lovely, honest!) that won't go down a storm, but I'll definitely suggest it. Hopefully the eco guilt will prevail over the snobness.

If she's very eco, how about the mothercare cardboard cot? Very light and practical - if not grand!

and why not an organic cotton sling instead of a pram? much less embodied energy and lovely for babe too!

I would think a 2nd hand pram and cot would be more ethical. She could donate the money she saves to charity to try and redress the balance.

Do mothercare really do a cardboard cot????

Recycle recyle recyle, get a second hand one!

Afterall, where do all these expensive prams end up eventually? We all buy them, until this post I'd never really thought about the impact on the enviroment from a pram, but if you think about it, they are mass produced abroad, shipped around the world, they come in plastic and cardboard packaging and must, one day, end up in land fill totally unable to decompose!

Defo buy second hand, you can get a new mattress.

tbh, if she can't be persuaded to co-sleep, I'd get a cot she's happy with. Obviously preferably secondhand, but if not, something wooden and study. That way, at least SHE can recycle it.

re the pram-I suspect pram manuracture is quite horrible really. The plasticy coating stuff that goes into prams is just vile. Hmm. I think secondhand really is the best option here.

Another thing I'd consider if I were here is to start out with a nice sling. I mean a decent one, so she needs to research and spend money. THEN when the baby is a few months old, get a pram. She will know enough then to get something that really suits her, she will have had a little longer for secondhand stuff to come to her and she MIGHT find (though prob shouldn't rely on this) that the baby can go straight into a more streamlined pram, thus needing a small pram IYKWIM.

Thanks for all the thoughts, much appreciated! I like the idea of buying second hand and donating the difference to a charity - she may be able to get over her snobbiness by feeling like a good person.

Has she looked at the little green earthlets website? If she can't be persuaded into second hand then they have a cot and other furniture which is made from renewable sources, also slings I think.

can't find the eco-crib on the mothercare website any more but is referred to here:

lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/family/story/0,,1876184,00.html

maybe not available any more... looked neat!

But would it last? I mean, I co slept with mine but my understanding was that you needed about 2 years use out of a sling. Also, is one of the points of a cot not to keep the baby in? Does cardboard do that?

I actually think that a secondhand cot that converts into a bed, which can then be sold on, is the way to go here.