Zero Waste Birth: Gathering Supplies

As we prepared our birth kit, we had to order supplies and we always made the request to reduce plastic and packaging. Some tried and some ignored us completely.

Here are photos of the birth supplies as they came in:

Bubzi Nasal Aspirator: Part Silicone, Washable, Reusable Snot Sucker from Amazon

Upcycled Wool Multiple Use Pad (Chuks-Home Lanolized) from Upcy Bottoms on Etsy

Stainless Steel Cord Clamps from Precious Arrows Midwifery

compostable trash bags Made from Non-GMO Potatoes without plastic at all (Midwife insisted on Trash bags for disposal)

Rubber Hot Water Bottle from Amazon to replace plastic peri-bottle and doubles for future warming needs

Wool receiving blanket packaging (from Etsy Seller who was amazing on her minimizing plastic packaging by reusing a paper bag and just using a little tape to close it) which is to replace some disposable plastic Chux pads

Custom Glass drinking straws (Made from Recycled Pyrex by another amazing Etsy Seller who just put a little tape to keep the package closed and wrapped in paper, AND included reusing ideas for the paper wrapping) to replace plastic disposables and keep me hydrated during and after labor, even while laying flat on my back

Ordered recycled paper towels that looked like they were wrapped in paper on Amazon from a manufacturer who sells recycled toilet paper in paper (Don't fall for the Marcal trap, they're all wrapped in plastic!)

Utah Newborn Screening (Super impressed with the Health Department on this one, almost plastic-free and zero-waste. FedEx's Earth Smart is even carbon-neutral which is a good step in in the right direction.) 

Everything else was bought locally or we already had it. The good news is that very little on this list will have to be bought and shipped again. We can pretty much just pack it all up after we're done using it (either during birth or during birth and beyond), and bring it out the next time we have a baby.

On a personal note, buying/receiving mostly used gender-neutral clothes, diapers, bedding, etc. minimizes waste to make gear and get them to your location, saves money by getting more use out of the same gear, and saves space for storing them for hand-me-downs. You don't have to spend as much time looking for clothes without plastic.

Here's to less plastic and zero-waste shipping for a zero-waste/ plastic-free birth!

Little Urban Greenie