Between the old food containers and already too-small baby clothes, it's staggering how quickly the waste piles up when you're a new parent.
Mom and sustainable babywear business owner Cubbiekit (@cubbiekit) has shared her tips for reducing that trash — while saving yourself some money — by reusing baby food jars.
The scoop
In a TikTok video, Cubbiekit shares three useful ways that parents can repurpose empty baby food jars for quick parenting hacks.
@cubbiekit Sustainable parenting hack🙌🏼 what are some other ways you have reused your baby food jars??♻️ #sustainable #sustainableliving #sustainablebaby #parentinghack #ecofriendly #upcycle #sustainableparenting #momhack #dadhack #parentsoftiktok #sustainabletok #fyp #ReadyForHell #reuseable #reusereducerecycle #ecofriendlyliving #ecofriendlyparenting #lifehacks #sustainablehacks #sustainableideas ♬ FEEL THE GROOVE - Queens Road, Fabian Graetz
One clip shows her pouring a handful of blueberries into a clean jar. "Skip the Ziploc bags," she says in a voice-over, and instead store your baby's snacks for when you're on the go.
Or, you can decant a small amount of baby soap, lotion or diaper cream into the jar, so you're never left without.
The third idea is the most creative. When your baby is ready to learn to drink from an open cup, the jar makes an ideal starter cup. "They are the perfect size for their little hands," says Cubbiekit.
How it's helping
Cubbiekit's baby food jar hack gives one small way that new parents can save money on all the food, clothes, and products that they need for their child.
One survey by Netmums found that the typical new mom spends upward of $1,270 on preparing for a new baby.
Lots of parents are confused by what they need to buy and end up wasting hundreds of dollars on stuff that never gets used. Pushchair experts iCandy have found that UK parents waste an average of $478.90 per year.
All this needless spending amounts to more items ending up in landfills. The waste produced by a new baby can spiral quickly, with more than 300,000 diapers trashed every minute globally and the average baby outgrowing seven clothing sizes in their first two years.
More than a quarter of parents say that being eco-friendly is "impossible" while looking after a newborn, according to Baby Dove.
One way to start reducing your environmental impact as a parent is to start small. Reusing old food jars will help you reduce the volume of waste that you put in the trash as well as prevent food from going to landfills.
When food waste rots in landfills, it produces methane, an atmosphere-warming gas. Methane is estimated to be responsible for around 30% of the world's rising temperatures.
Businesses like Hanna-Me-Downs also allow parents to sell on, rather than throw out, old children's clothes, while unmatched baby socks could get a second life at the local vet.
DYPER, meanwhile, sells diapers made out of bamboo, which are 100% compostable.
What everyone's saying
Cubbiekit's sustainable parenting hack has earned the company a few fans on TikTok.
"Love this hack!" one wrote.
"Fabulous," another chimed in.
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