Whether in the bathroom, in the kitchen or in the children's room - plastic can be found everywhere. And especially in the children's room, tons of plastic products often accumulate. In this article you will find out how you can make your child’s room sustainable and as plastic-free as possible.
Plastic-free starts with the design of the children's room
You can already avoid plastic when designing the children's room. When buying wall paints, pay attention to solvent-free paints. These do not contain any microplastics. When furnishing, we recommend furniture made of natural wood and textiles made of natural materials. This applies e.g. B. for blankets, bed linen and also for carpets. On the one hand, natural materials are good for your child's health and, on the other hand, they protect the environment. Anyone who buys sustainably manufactured products not only makes a contribution to environmental protection, but also invests in quality.
Children's fashion: Sustainable labels are in demand
There are now more and more fashion brands that focus on sustainability and use carefully processed natural materials.
Basically, we recommend that you pay attention to the following tips when buying children’s clothing:
- It is better to rely on high-quality products than on a full wardrobe
- If you want to buy completely plastic-free clothing, you should look for GOTs-certified cotton, wool, linen and other natural materials.
- When it comes to sportswear, make sure that the microfiber content is as low as possible. Even better: recycled plastic
- Buy second-hand clothes
wooden toys
Plastic toys are not inherently bad. However, you should be critical when buying. Many of them are contaminated with pollutants that are neither good for the environment nor for your child. If plastic toys are soft and springy, you should be alert. These usually contain harmful plasticizers, for example in dolls, balls or inflatable water toys.
Toys made of wood are good for the environment and for your child. But here, too, there are a few things to keep in mind:
- Is the toy made of sturdy 100% FSC-certified wood from sustainable forests?
- Have non-toxic, non-slip, water-based paints been used?
- Aren't there any sharp edges? Is there no risk of injury from splinters?
Plastic-free diapers and drinking bottles for children
10 hours dry diaper bum - plastic makes it possible. It works great, but it's anything but good for the baby and the environment. A diaper contains an average of 5 grams of crude oil. But this is only the tip of the diaper mountain: An unbelievable 400,000 tons of disposable diapers have to be disposed of in Germany every year. Consider that it takes about 450 years for a diaper to completely disintegrate.
Fortunately, there are now enough alternatives:
- Eco diapers made from biodegradable material
- cloth diapers
- Or the diaper-free method, which is becoming more and more popular on the Internet
When it comes to plastic drinking bottles, things don't look any better: One Study found that bottle-fed babies ingest more than a million particles of microplastics every day. The higher the degree of heating of the liquid, the more microplastics are released. It is not yet clear what effects this will have on the children's health. One thing is certain: a large proportion of the particles are excreted by the body and end up in the environment and in our waters.
What alternatives are there?
- Plastic or glass drinking bottles
- First heat baby milk in a plastic-free container and only then pour it into the drinking bottle. As a result, less microplastic is released
Plastic in baby shampoo?
You should also pay attention to the ingredients when choosing cosmetics for children. Synthetic polymers are hidden in some baby shampoos, creams or sun milk. The plastic can often be recognized by the ingredients with endings such as "-polymer" or "-polyamide". These include: polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polyurethane (PUR), acrylates copolymer (AC) and polystyrene (PS).
In everyday life it is not always easy to change things. Every little change really counts here. After some time, you will be amazed in retrospect at how much you have already implemented and achieved. So, keep going for a greener world.