‘Mummy, Daddy, what are you doing to help the climate?’ This is one of the scariest questions a kid can ask their parents and it’s becoming more and more frequent. Get ready for it!
We can’t easily afford solar panels or a Tesla, but we could easily create less garbage. The biggest surprise? Living minimally is way easier than you might think and you can actually save a lot of money in the equation.
What can you do so that your kids are proud of you as a good citizen of the earth?
Living sustainably and producing less garbage—it’s a simple idea. With climate change and growing plastic patches in the ocean, it feels like the right thing to do. But given the sheer amount of stuff that comes with raising kids, it also feels impossible. Before becoming truly zero waste, maybe we can start with easy and impactful steps:
1. Disposable nappies are one of the biggest contributors to plastic waste around the globe
Here is the problem : Globally, more than 300,000 disposable nappies a minute are sent to landfill, incinerated or dumped in the environment, including the ocean. In the water, nappies break down into micro plastics - leaching chemicals, damaging marine life and potentially contaminating drinking water, most of which comes from the rivers.
One alternative is “biodegradable” or “compostable” nappies, but the majority of these nappies are not 100% biodegradable and still contain plastic elements.
Our recommendation: Use reusable diapers. These create less landfill waste and if used with a "water saving mode" that washing machines offer now, your environmental damage is reduced significantly.
You might want to know all about reusable nappies by BKK kids. For my new born baby, we found really cute nappies from Miosolo and Grovia, available at Earthmart in Thonglor. It seems expensive to buy a ฿750 to ฿900 diaper at the beginning, but in the long run, it's financially more interesting.
How much money is saved by using reusable nappies? A typical baby goes through about 6,000 disposable nappies, so you could save between ฿40,000 to ฿70,000 for your first child, increasing to over ฿160,000 for two.
Why would your kids be proud? Because they'll tell everyone in the playground that they have super green powers and can protect the planet like Superman!
2. Who doesn't love discounts on premium food? What if on top of that, you could do a good deed and protect the planet?
That's our mission at Yindii, allowing you to get access to amazing deals on surplus food that otherwise would end up in the landfills. 17 million tons of food are wasted every year in Thailand and all the resources used to grow, transport, transform or refrigerate the food are lost in the equation, contributing 10% to the greenhouse gas emissions. In case of local stores, it's mostly because they can't find someone to buy it before closing the shops.
Every meal you rescue is 2.5 kg of CO₂ you can offset 🌏 You can either take away the surplus meals yourself during outdoor walk or get them delivered from the comfort of your home. Your kids will love it as it's usually big portions, especially for bakeries and desserts, and you have now a nice story to share to your little ones so they can be proud of you!
Our recommendations:
Check fruits & vegetables from Happy Grocers, Homeland Grocers, Farmtastic, Gourmet Market, Lotus's or Tops Market.
Family-size bakery boxes to share, check out Landhaus (Ari), S&P (various locations), Folies (Sathorn), Mikazuki (various locations) among others.
For incredible desserts, we highly recommend Meet Fresh Tawainese desserts (various locations), French cakes from Paris Mikki (Emquartier, Central Embassy, Central World) or Cafe de Tu (various locations)
For vegan, vegetarian or plant-based family, check our dedicated posts.
3. Sort, Recycle and Win Prizes
Problem: Out in the sea, plastic waste float across borders, joining other countries' marine debris, clogging the oceans, harming marine lives and ecosystems, prompting global concerns and efforts to combat plastic pollution – now one of the world's top environmental problems.
What can you do ?
Start learning what can be recycled : A perfect guide by LessPlastic. Less Plastic is a non profit organization that offers advice and free workshops for anyone who wishes to learn more about recycling in Thailand, in both English and Thai.
Check where you can drop them off : Thailand Green Map is here for you! A map of eco, organic, sustainable, supermarkets, restaurants, eco lodge, experiences, businesses and organisations in Thailand
Recycle and Win Prizes with Trashlucky : Donate your recyclables and earn lucky draw tickets for winning prices every month. Literally, turning your trash into gold! They accept plastic, glass, paper & metal and can even come pick it up at your place.
‘Mummy, Daddy, what are you doing to help the climate?’
“A Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins with a Single Step”. Now, you have some of the answers if this important question pops up. You're trying to help reduce your family's impact and carbon footprint at a local level. Even more, inside of you, you're proud of yourself to be a caring parent sharing the right values to your kids.
Comments