The first week of September is Zero Waste Week: a total pain in the bum for anyone who has ever worked in events.
September brings massive shifts for everyone: some people are wrestling their way back into school routines, while others are taking advantage of the sudden drop in holiday prices. Whoever chose the first week of September for Zero Waste Week... good job!
Rant over. Zero Waste Week does give us a chance to share some practical tips for cutting waste.
Nobody expects you to instantly shift to zero waste overnight. As a parent or caregiver, the amount of waste you create can hit its peak in those early months, and that can feel completely overwhelming.
One action we can each take is to stop buying all the stuff.
As I have said before, products are predominantly made to meet the needs of us anxious parents with cash rather than the infants, who simply want that thing the dog just chewed.
There are things we should never skimp on or buy second-hand: mattresses, car seats, and medical equipment should always be brand new for each child. But there are countless other things big corporations convince us are vital that really aren’t.
You might choose to use hand-me-downs, buy pre-used or head to ‘nearly new’ events where you can. There were over 580,000 babies born in England and Wales in 2025 alone - that's a huge amount of stuff being bought, used briefly, and moved on.
My youngest was very unwell when he was born, all 9lb of him in the NICU refusing to breathe. I was stuck there for two weeks, separated from my daughter and my tribe. I hadn't used real nappies for my daughter when she was born — I discovered them later in my journey. This time, I had a set of the most adorable patterned cloth nappies! While he was in special care, we also had a heatwave, so clothing was very much not of importance. I was able to take joy in the fact that my little boy had the most colourful backside on the ward.
I also started really researching nappies. Did you know that every single-use disposable nappy ever made is still on this planet, contents and all?
Forget future generations using a mosquito frozen in amber to resurrect us: our legacy will be poop wrapped in plastic! They take an estimated 500 years to decompose. So-called "eco-nappies" are advertised to break down much faster under the right conditions, but what's less commonly known is that this requires specialised industrial composting, which the UK doesn't currently have the infrastructure for. As a result, they end up in household rubbish without the necessary heat, light or oxygen, taking lifetimes to break down anyway.
Research by the North London Waste Authority (NLWA) revealed that 1 in 10 parents of children under three admit to putting soiled nappies into household recycling . When asked where soiled nappies belong, 22% of respondents believed they belonged in a bin other than the general rubbish bin, including dry recycling or organic waste. Around 13% stated misleading package labelling like "eco-friendly" or "biodegradable" as the reason they thought the dirty nappy was recyclable. Major UK waste processors like Biffa identifies used nappies as a primary cause of entire lorry loads of recycling being rejected and sent straight to incineration or landfill due to biological contamination.
You don't need to be a perfect, zero-waste hero, and nobody is judging you when you are running on two hours of sleep. But if you're interested in exploring low-waste options without a massive upfront cost, we've built local support for you here at No Perfect Parent Company CIC: you can ask all the questions you may have. There will soon be a reusable nappy library too, follow our social for updates.
More from Jodie: her column on parental self-judgement explores being kinder to ourselves.
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