Parents Struggling To Live the Green Dream
In the current climate we are all becoming increasingly aware of the importance of reducing our carbon footprint, finding natural alternatives and buying organic. This genuine concern, coupled with the current environmental trend, is keeping ‘green’ at the top of the agenda.
Parents are often portrayed as green groupies: nappy recycling, organic baby food and sustainable furniture are hot conversation topics at the school gate. But in reality, how easy is it to be green in 2008? Research was conducted amongst over 1,200 UK mums to uncover the priority green issues and find out how easy it is to live the green dream.
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The research found that in reality, only 5% of UK mums currently find it ‘easy’ to be green. Hunting down more environmentally friendly alternatives is still proving ‘very difficult’, and in some cases ‘impossible’, for the majority of UK mums. Nappy recycling is one of the most important green issues; interestingly this was also the most difficult green product or service to find, with 62% of mums finding it ‘impossible’/’very difficult’ to locate a service in their area. Only 17% cited it as easy.
The research suggests that the ability to source sustainable/recycled furniture and chemical free toys is linked to your postcode, as 56% of mums stated these products were ‘impossible’ or ‘very difficult’ to find, but almost as many said buying these alternatives was ‘easy’. Perhaps most surprisingly is the high percentage of mums who still find it ‘very difficult’ to buy organic baby clothes, natural baby skincare products and even natural or organic baby food .
The Natural Mat Company research also quizzed mums about the value of importance they place on a number of green baby issues. Natural or organic baby food and nappy recycling came top of the list of priorities for mums, followed by chemical free baby skin care. Bottom of the list of priorities were organic baby clothes and natural mattresses/bedding: these two areas were considered ‘not important’ by 30% and 32% of mums respectively.
Thirty seven percent of mums confessed to having never thought about buying natural or organic bedding/mattresses, even though the average baby mattress only lasts for 4 years and as a result ends up in landfill, contributing to the estimated 27 million tonnes of landfill waste every year.
Sleep expert, Chireal Shallow, encourages parents to look for a natural option when it comes to babies sleeping environments “Not only is there a significant environmental impact of synthetic mattresses, babies spend around 18 hours a day asleep for their first two years, so their sleeping space can have a big impact on their health and the quality of sleep. ........All the parents I work with have noticed a big improvement to babies sleep after switching to a natural mattress. Natural fibre mattresses are also naturally anti-allergenic and 100% breathable, helping babies to regulate their temperature unlike synthetic mattresses. “
September 2008
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