ECO PRODUCT: biodegradable wipes

WE, AT LITTLEBIG, have a secret addiction of which we’re quite ashamed. We’re wipe addicts. It starts off innocently enough. Baby’s bum is cleaner on the go thanks to a packet of wipes stashed in the handbag. Then you notice those wipes clean the changing mat beautifully, get killer stains out of carpets and rugs, remove spots of staining juice / vomit / felt tip pen out of clothes (your own and your babe’s). Brad Pitt even claims to use them to refresh his, erm, pits. And then, all of a sudden, it hits you, you’re addicted. Despite the fact your son is 3 years old, you still carry a packet of wipes around for ‘emergencies’ - which include cleaning cafe tables before you sit down - and playground swing seats. 

The guilty part? Most wipes aren’t biodegradable or anything like it. The supermarket own-brand varieties might be the best at stain-removing, but they’re essentially plastic, non-eco, poison for the environment and your toilet/plumbing if you flush. Whilst we should all quite clearly be using water and washable cloths where possible in lieu of wipes, thankfully there are a growing number of biodegradable alternatives - and ones that are just as effective at cleaning.

Method’s Flushable Bathroom Wipes, £3.50 in the UK at www.methodproducts.co.uk, aren’t baby bottom friendly, but they are intended to mop up toddler toilet spills, and are made from a biodegradable pulp. Nature Babycare’s bio wipes are biodegradable (made from sustainable beechwood sources) - see www.naty.com for stockists, as are Mio’s wipes, £1.50 for 40 in the UK from www.bumpto3.com, which are also flushable (see www.bambinomio.com for international stockists). And we’ve only recently discovered, but really like, Mothercare’s biodegradable, organic wipes which feature 15 per cent cotton, so they’re more like a cloth than a wipe, and are therefore gentler on tiny baby bottoms. 

Happy (guilt-free) cleaning.