From deveils to little eco angels? Maybe...

This morning I didn’t work out - I plonked the Mink Baby in the gym’s creche for an hour and chilled out, reading the paper, sipping a coffee and this artcile in The Times caught my eye - perhaps convenient disposable nappies will become an eco-friendly option after all?

Relief for parents’ disposable nappy guilt

by Lewis Smith

A scheme to recycle thousands of tonnes of used disposable nappies into everything from tiles to bicycle helmets and, eventually, to extract methane from them to generate energy is about to start.

The first of five plants designed to reclaim the plastic and fibres used to make nappies and incontinence pads will open in Birmingham, with four others planned by 2014 for cities such as Manchester, Liverpool and London.

The £12 million Birmingham plant will be able to process 36,000 tonnes a year, with plastic recovered from the nappies and pads used initially to make roof tiles. Other items, including cycling helmets, shoe insoles and cladding, could be made later.

In a second phase, which executives at Knowaste, the Canadian company that will operate the plant, hope to have running by the end of 2011, methane will be extracted from the used nappies and sold to the national gas grid…”

To read the entire article go here.

What do you think?

Can the (quite rightly) demonised but convenient disposbale nappy undergo a reform and become a useful member of society?

Little Green Earthlets Magic Fairy Mist

What does Little Green Earthlets’ Magic Fairy Mist do?

According to their website, this Magic Fairy Mist can:

â??Help your little one sleep with a combination of borage and lavender to promote relaxation.â?�

Whether you have children or not, it doesn’t take a genius to work out why parents might be interested in a product like this - we all like to get a good night’s sleep and there’s nothing like a fretful child to bar the way to slumberland. So I was all over this as soon as I read about it at www.earthlets.co.uk.

How did the Little Green Earthlets’ Magic Fairy Range Come to Be?

â??We know (from first hand experience!) that it is not always easy being a new parent [...] sleepless nights, endless feeding, and a complete change in lifestyle can make for some pretty tough days.

[...]

It is with this in mind that we wanted to create a delicate, safe and effective range of wonderful plant based products, blended with love and care and a very real understanding of the physical and emotional needs of you and your baby.â?�

Minkbaby Review of Little Green Earthlets’ Magic Fairy Mist - ***

My godmother is an aromatherapist and I grew up using a variety of essential oils to help me relax, sleep, heal etc. and although I could theoretically make up my own sleepy spray, I never seemed to get around to it, and so I bought this one.

It smells lovely. I’m just not sure how good it is at helping my daughter to relax and sleep - I used it every night for a month and noticed no discernable difference. Of course to be totally fair, Georgie goes in and out of teething phases and other sleep-disturbing patterns, and so it is hard to verify whether or not this spray has helped her sleep at all.

Function aside for a moment, Georgie does like it - in fact she asks for it, although I think this is because she enjoys having it sprayed high over her cot and then waiting, with her face screwed up, for the fine spray to land on her.

Even though I’m not convinced that it is the sleep spray I was hoping for, I still use it in her room, on the off chance that it will give her a higher chance of staying asleep, and because essential oils often have natural antibacterial qualities.

The spray also makes the room smell good, which helps after a stinky nappy, and I spray it on her clothes after they have been washed, as a kind of natural fabric scent.

I would definitely try other products from the Little Green Earthlets range.

I think that I probably wouldn’t buy this product again though because I have been given a recipe to make my own by my godmother, and I have all the oils to hand.

If I didn’t have that I would probably consider buying it again, especially because I like the eco-friendly, natural ethos of the range.

It’s a lovely natural air freshener but I feel like I could make it myself quite easily for less.

What natural remedies do you use to get your little ones to sleep?

Have you tried Little Green Earthlets’ Magic Fairy Mist?  Would you like to?

Email me now at ali@minkbaby.co.uk

You could also try Green Peoplewho offer natural and organic products

Bamboo Silk Comfort Blanket by TINK (NooNoo) RRP £15.00

As you may already know, TINK (formerly known as The NooNoo Design Company) make beautiful handmade baby comforters that are arguably as ethical, eco-friendly, carbon-footprint-reduced, high quality, sustainable, aesthetically pleasing, practical and unique as they can make them.

All Tink/NooNoo baby products are:

• Handmade from ecologically sustainable & clean textiles that have been ethically manufactured in a fair trade (*type) environment.

• Slightly different from one another and therefore unique.

• Rigorously quality checked down to the last detail.

• Designed by adults and children (they incorporate freehand machine embroidered child art that is â??faithfully reproduced to connect with other little people and their imaginations.â??)

[To find out more about TINK and the NooNoo Design company why not read our review here]

It’s handmade out of bamboo and edged with 100% satin silk edging and measures 35 x 35 cms.

Minkbaby Review of TINK (NooNoo) Bamboo Silk Comfort Blanket

As soon as I saw this particular blanket I knew I wanted to give it to Amy, my god daughter, who was born in December 2008.

It is simple, elegant, soft and beautiful - I was pretty sure that it was a great gift and that Kerry, who is Amy’s mummy and also my best friend, would love it (despite the fact that it has a little spider label sewn onto it - Kerry is terrified of spiders!)

If you have a Bamboo Silk Comfort Blanket from TINK please do add your own review via the comments button below.

If you would like the opportunity to receive a Bamboo Silk Comfort Blanket from TINK then please email ali@minkbaby.co.uk to find out how to become a minkbaby reviewer.

Natalia Baby Bottom Butter - available alone or as part of Vital Touch's Blissful Baby Box

Looking for a natural, eco-friendly and ethical bottom cream to combat the effects of………….teething!?

I have always used Sudocrem for my daughter’s bottom - I never really gave it too much thought. It was what the mother of the little girl I used to look after used, and it seems to work and so that’s what I used - what I knew.

Sudocrem does work pretty well. But in the interests of attempting to use products that are more eco and ethically friendly, I thought I would look at some other alternatives, particularly as my little mink baby is teething.

Now if you have never had to look after a teething child then you may not be aware of some of the possible side effects.

You might have already reasoned there might be some drooling, red cheeks, irritability, unwillingness to eat, incessant chewing on hard and or cold objects and so on. That makes sense, right?

What you might not know is that what comes out of a teething baby’s bottom can, for no apparent reason, be unusually gross (green and/or loose and/or generally more abhorrent that poop usually is.)

Not only can teething-poo be extra disgusting (which is, you’ll admit a coup for a horrible substance like excrement,) it would seem that sometimes it attempts to dissolve peachy little baby bums and leave rough, red sore patches that make your baby’s head spin around 360 degrees and projectile vomit (this is a slight exaggeration but you get the idea.)

Why I decided to start with Vital Touch’s Natalia Range

Back when www.minkbaby.co.uk was going to be a baby-oriented retail site, I was doing research and trying to work out the kinds of products that would offer great quality, and I noticed that most sites in that arena stocked one or (frequently) more of Natalia’s range. I got in contact with them and had some lovely conversations. I was determined to stock their products too - but not without trying them of course!

As the minkbaby concept evolved towards becoming an eco resource rather than another retail outlet, I still wanted to give their products a try, but as I’m not pregnant, about to go into labour or a new mum, I thought I’d wait until I was in one or those states.

But when I found some of Natalia’s Baby Bottom Butter on sale at a local shop today, I pounced on it, bought it and took it home to try. We’ll get to how our testing of this bottom butter went in a bit but first let’s have a look at the company - it’s ethos, it’s ethics and so on as lately this is the first thing I look at - hopefully you do too! (although of course product performance is also paramount!)

Natural Touch’s Eco-Friendly, Organic and Ethical Ethos

www.vitaltouch.com

Vital Touch has its own charter, which is worth a read because it tells you a lot of about the quality of the ingrediants used in their products, and their ethos in general, so here it is:

Vital Touch uses:

• Only the highest quality, unadulterated organic and wildharvested essential oils that have been tested for purity
• Ingredients that are mild and considered environmentally friendly
• Ingredients that are wholly naturally derived
• Packaging from recycled, recyclable or reusable materials

Vital Touch Products are:

• Suitable for vegetarians and vegans
• Hand blended in Devon in small quantities to ensure consistent quality, freshness and maximum shelf life
• Labelled clearly and safely with simple instructions

Vital Touch does not use:

• Synthetic colouring or perfumes
• Mineral oils or lanolin
• Petrochemicals
• Sodium Lauryl Sulphate (SLS)
• Parabens

Vital Touch:

• Rejects the testing of cosmetic products on animals
• Endeavours to source raw materials that are ethically and sustainably grown
• Is consumer-led: your feedback is important to us
• Keeps up to date with the aromatherapy, massage and reflexology professions

Vital Touch’s Company Founder: Katie Whitehouse

Vital Touch - What Katie Did

“Katie Whitehouse has been a practicing Therapist for over 16 years and has brought aromatherapy, reflexology and massage into the lives of many people. Today Katie lives and practices in South Devon where she founded Vital Touch in 1999.

Katie also teaches labour massage to husbands, midwives and birth partners, baby massage to parents, and anatomy, physiology and massage skills to practitioners.

She is currently the Vice Chair of the Association of Physical and Natural Therapists (APNT) and has held positions as Secretary of the Research and Scientific Sub-Committee for the Aromatherapy Consortium, Sports Massage Consultant for the APNT and Therapy Consultant for the APNT.  She also writes regular articles for midwife, pregnancy and the natural press.”

For further information about Vital Touch, for example their beautiful gift boxes for Prenatal Women, Labour & Birth, New Parent Survival, & of course New Babies; Bespoke Products Service, their gift wrapping service, their range of pure essential oils or the discount they offer to therapists and midwives, please do visit their website.

Minkbaby’s Eco Product Review of Natalia Baby Bottom Butter by Vital Touch

Natalia Baby Bottom Butter

“A healing and soothing butter which melts on contact with skin; wonderfully soothing, softening and healing for little bottoms with SHEA BUTTER, CALENDULA, VITAMIN E and healing and soothing essential oils of TEA TREE, ROMAN CHAMOMILE and LAVENDER.”

Day One

I applied the cream to a clean, sore bottom before bedtime.

I’m a bit nervous about it because although I have faith in the healing power of genuine, quality, expertly blended essential oils and carriers, which I believe these to be, I am not sure that this bottom butter can heal AND act as a barrier cream.

I know from personal experience that lavendar and chamomile is immensley healing and soothing, and that tea tree is very antibacterial without being harsh, so I am optimistic that the results will be good.

Nevertheless I have submitted a question to Vital Touch’s site asking about how best to use the bottom butter

For now I have decided to try it tonight and see how we go - with all the recent teething we have been woken up many many times during the night, and we always check her nappy and change it if necessary, so I shouldn’t wake up to a nucleur bottom in the morning.

Natalia Baby Bottom Butter - First Impressions

Texture - A bit like Vaseline but lighter

Smell - Lovely - fresh, light, mmmm!

I will update this review as the week goes on and let you know how we do with the bottom butter.

Day Two

We got along very well with the Natalia Baby Bottom Butter today but I accidentally sent Georgie to my mum’s without it, which led to a very sore bottom indeed!

I received a very comprehensive response from Katie at VitalTouch as regards the use and suitability of Natalia Baby Bottom Butter on very sore bottoms. Ironically her advice included making sure to take it out with you, which I will make sure to do from now on…

“[Y]es the Natalia Baby Bottom Butter can be really helpful with nappy rash. It’s also really worth leaving the nappy off for as much of the time as possible, at the very least letting the area completely air dry before
applying the butter but better still letting your baby’s skin be open to the air for as much as possible to help the sore bits heal.

I’ve put an excerpt from our Product Information Manual below. Hope this helps!

BABYBOTTOM BUTTER

15ml and 60ml

WHAT IS IT?

A healing and soothing butter which melts on contact with skin.

ACTIVE INGREDIENTS:

Shea butter, Calendula, Vitamin E, Lavender, Tea
Tree, Chamomile.

WHY SHOULD I USE IT?

Extremely soothing, SOFTENING & HEALING for little bottoms.

WHAT’S IN IT?

99.9% 0RGANIC ingredients

This blend of essential oils is soothing, cooling, relaxing and calming as well as being naturally antiseptic and anti inflammatory.

TOP TIP

Carry with you in baby’s changing bag so it’s always on hand. Allow
your baby’s skin to air dry before applying. Your baby’s skin loves to
breathe and it’s great to let your baby be without any nappy on as often
as possible. “

Day Three

An amusing side effect of this bottom butter is that it appears to be very tickly! Georgie laughs and laughs when I put it on her bum, and once she has recovered from laughing she always says:

More?!

So it’s got her vote - she does love to be tickled.

The bottom rash has cleared up now, which is great.

Day Four

The soreness seems to have ceased for now.

Something I am noticing about this bottom butter is that it is cleaner to use than a cream like Sudocrem - when Georgie squirms around it doesn’t seem to rub off on everything around it, it seems to prefer to stick to skin. Also Georgie seems less inclined to eat it, which can get very icky indeed.

Day Five

Still no sore bottom, which is excellent.

I was really surprised to notice how little bottom butter I need to use to achieve good coverage. I definitely use less bottom butter than Sudocrem, which is good because otherwise it would be an expensive product to use.

Day Six

Still doing well with the bottom butter. I love the smell, which isn’t something I usually say after changing a nappy!

Day Seven

This seven day trial is at an end - I still have lots of bottom butter left in my jar, and Georgie seems to respond well to it. I’ll test another nappy cream once I’ve run out of Natalia Bottom Butter!

Would you like to try some Natalia products for free?

If you are pregnant or the full time carer of a baby, and you have time to write a reasonably detailed, objective review of these kinds of products, then email ali@minkbaby.co.uk to find out how to get started!

Why Eco Disposable Nappies?

Landfills Fill Me With Dread As I Fill Them With Disposable Nappies...

I mentioned in my first blog post that one of the things I was concerned about while subject to my bouts of eco-worrying, was the amount of disposable nappies I send to landfill.

It is (perceived) convenience that makes me love the disposable nappy - so sleek, so easy to dispose of (short-term anyway), they have pretty pictures on and they don’t need washing, they keep your baby dry and happy, if only they weren’t so indestructable in themselves, and destructive to the environment as a result!

I was hoping I could find an equally convenient disposable eco-friendly nappy, so that I could put one of my major eco-worries to bed.

Hence the review of eco-friendly disposable nappies at www.minkbaby.co.uk!

Why Eco Disposables? What about cloth nappies?

Cloth Nappies - Eco Friendly Too?

I thought about continuing to use the modern style of cloth nappies, which we used when Georgie was very little (she is currently 19 months). This is why I decided to see if I could find a genuinely eco-friendly nappy before thinking about cloth nappies again:

• I noticed that Georgie tended to get more uncomfortable and had more nappy rash with washable nappies than with disposable, especially at night. I could just have been doing it wrong, and I will look at cloth nappies at another time.

• Crèches generally will not accept babies in cloth nappies

• Extra water, chemicals and energy are used when washing baby nappies at home

• Disposables are more convenient for today’s busy lifestyle

• Not everyone has access to a ‘nappy service’

• Independent studies confirm that ordinary disposables and washable nappies are equally damaging to the environment, even if they use different resources.

[most of the above bullet points were found at www.ecobaby.ie - I had my doubts about how truly eco friendly cloth nappies were and ecobaby seems to be able to confirm those doubts as being reasonable]

So I thought that I should find out more about eco-friendly disposable nappies.

How will Eco Disposables Shape Up Compared With Leading Non-Eco Brands?

Good Question...

I must admit I was slightly concerned about the idea of using eco-disposable nappies. I really do have in my mind that being eco-friendly must involve a great deal of inconvenience, suffering second best in a noble fashion for the sake of the environment. This appears to be my deep-seated belief, and probably does account for my tendency to eco-freak-out in the face of positive, eco-friendly change.

I have been very happy to go with supermarket disposable nappies, and just before I started this trial with Moltex, I had been using Morrissons nappies, which ever ones were cheaper at the time. However in the two weeks leading up to this review, I had been using Huggies because my parents were kind enough to buy us a great big box from Costco.

These Huggies are pretty, and they feel nice, and you’d think they’d be great because they are a leading brand. But you know what? These Huggies leaked overnight nine nights out of fourteen

Now to be totally fair, there may be many reasons for this that don’t relate to the efficiency of Huggies - perhaps we just needed to go up a size, for example. I considered this, and did some internet research.

I was looking for impartial reviews and found myself mummy blogs and mums forums. My pot-luck research seemed to suggest that despite their world domination, Huggies and Pampers are not necessarily as good as you might think. In fact in general, Tesco nappies appeared to get the most votes from informal consumer trials that have been conducted by UK mums up and down the country. I considered using Tesco disposable nappies, but to my knowledge, they aren’t eco-friendly. So I decided to give the eco-friendly disposable nappies a go.

The first ones I decided to try were the Moltex Oko Eco Nappies, which, are said to be as good as leading brands - I hope that’s true!

Before we get into how they performed, let’s look at why you should use them - what are Moltex’s eco-credentials?

Moltex Eco Nappies - What Makes Them So Eco-Friendly?

Features and Benefits

Moltex Eco Nappies Are Compostable

Imagine, a nappy that doesn't take up landfil but simply breaks down into harmless materials

The first thing that attracted me to try these nappies was the fact that they are compostable- in fact you can even put them in a wormery and turn them into excellent garden fertiliser, if you’re so inclined!

I am thinking that if these nappies compost, then as long as I use compostable nappy sacks, I should be able to put these nappies straight into our Green Bins (where the compostable rubbish goes for collection.) I’m going to check with my local authority about that though, before I go recommending it as something we all should do!

Anyway, these nappies have proven to breakdown to make excellent compost within 8 to 10 weeks in a wormery. Now all I need is a wormery…

Moltex Eco Nappies - As effective as leading brands

As I mentioned before, Moltex Eco Nappies have been reported to be at least as effective as leading brands. This is definitely heartening.

Moltex Eco Nappies - Do Not Contain Substances That Are Harmful to People or the Environment

[The following information was taken from and excellent review of Moltex Eco Nappies by The Nappy Tree which you can read in full here.]

“The impact of disposable nappies is directly related to the substances used in the manufacture of the nappy, the amount of resources used, how well the nappy works (how many are needed daily) and the method of disposal.

The Moltex Eco nappy is good news on all of these fronts:

No perfumes, lotions, antioxidants, or TBT, which is much better for sensitive skin.

The synthetic perfumes used in many conventional disposables to combat odour can be harmful to sensitive skin. Ironically, the bleach residues or other chemicals found in many disposables can react with urine, causing odours other than those naturally associated with baby, hence the perfumes.

Synthetic lotions are put into some nappies. These are like oils and are meant to be waterproof, but become rancid over time. Chemical antioxidants are added to lotions to make them stay fresh longer. Moltex Eco nappies have no lotions, and no need for antioxidants, which is better for baby, and better for the environment.

TBT (tributyl tin) is an environmental pollutant with a hormone-like effect. The smallest concentrations of TBT can harm people’s immune systems and impair their hormonal system

(Taken from a report by Greenpeace - 19 May 2000. Full details of the report can be found here.)

Tea leaf extract to reduce odour & irritation

Moltex Eco Nappies use pure natural green tea leaf to help minimise odour, which has also proven very effective in protecting against fungi, viruses and yeast, which can cause nappy rash. It naturally contains cell constructing substances such as vitamins A, B and C which are essential for cell metabolism.

Unbleached wood pulp

Moltexâ??s Eco Nappies are beige in colour as they are manufactured using 50% unbleached wood pulp and 50% ecf ( elementary chlorine free ) bleached wood pulp, reported to be the least polluting type of quality paper available.

100% degradable packaging

Packaging used for Moltexâ??s Eco Nappies is made using 100% degradable maize starch and has perforations for easy re-use as a compost or bin bag.”

Minkaby Eco Product Review: Moltex Oko Eco Nappies - *****

Moltex Biodegradable Eco Nappies

I found these nappies to be excellent - when I was using them there was no leakage, no nappy rash, they stayed on fine and they basically did exactly what they were supposed to do.

To be fair, plenty of regular disposable nappies would do just as well, most at a cheaper price - but that’s just the point - we cannot afford to keep filling the land with poisonous substances that will not break down quickly and safely. Moltex Oko Eco Nappies break down in such a way that they are not only not a pollutant but when composted they actually become a resource - fertiliser!

I am going to test out other eco nappies before fixing on one brand but I am comitted to making our family budget work around a good eco disposbale nappy like this one, so that I can have my convenient disposable nappies without the eco worry.

Are you a mother of a baby or a nappy-wearing toddler?

Would you like to try Moltex Oko Eco Nappies and/or other eco disposables?

If you would be prepared to write a detailed, fair-minded review for www.minkbaby.co.uk, we would be happy to supply you with some eco nappies to try for free.

If you are interested, email ali@minkbaby.co.uk to find out more!

Related Articles:

• Why Use Moltex Oko Nappies? By The Nappy Tree
• Ecobaby on Composting Moltex Eco Nappies
• Students Win Environmental Award For Studyies in the Composting of Moltex Oko Eco Nappies
• Eco Nappies and Vermicomposting
• How to Make Your Own Wormery
• How to Tell When an Eco Nappy is NOT an Eco Nappy

The NooNoo Design Company, (now known as Tink), make beautiful handmade baby comforters that are arguably as ethical, eco-friendly, carbon-footprint-reduced, high quality, sustainable, aesthetically pleasing, practical and unique as they can make them.

All Tink/NooNoo baby products are:

• Handmade from ecologically sustainable & clean textiles that have been ethically manufactured in a fair trade (*type) environment.

• Slightly different from one another and therefore unique.

• Rigorously quality checked down to the last detail.

• Designed by adults and children (they incorporate freehand machine embroidered child art that is â??faithfully reproduced to connect with other little people and their imaginations.â??)

What kind of company is Tink?

Tink are a small family-run company in the UK with their own factory in Vietnam.

Where did the idea for Tink come from?

It all started when its founder, Jo Ashburner, became a single mum while she was pregnant â?? she went back to university to study design because:

‘I’m not a stay-at-home sort of mum. I have to be busy,â??

The idea for the business came to her after watching her little boy snuggle up to and sleep with textiles that she had been using for her course.

The idea grew as Jo found herself

â??fascinated by consumer trends and as a consumer on a budget felt increasingly insulted by the â??stack â??em high and sell them cheapâ?? philosophy of the big high street and out of town retailer names.â??

This brought about the desire to design a product as opposite to this policy as possible â?? something totally new in design,

â??which had not already been done in a textile which had not already been used on a mass scale and therefore was unpatented (it is now!)â??

She wanted to retreat from a â??throw awayâ?? culture and make thing people would want to keep â?? things that were â??an investment, and that would be hard to throw away.â??

How Tink got started â?? the NooNoo Design Company

Jo started up the business with credit cards, after having found applying for grants to be â??restrictive bureaucracy.â??

â??I just borrowed in my own name up to the eyeballsâ?¦there’ve been times when I’ve thought ‘what the hell am I doing?

It’s been incredibly hard and we have gone without. Unless you’ve got a solid, solid foundation, I wouldn’t do it on a whim.â??

It took fourteen months of long hard slog but less than a year after the venture was launched, Jo and NooNoo had scooped a number of awards including the O2 X Grazia 2006 Businesswoman of the Year, a Best Product gong for the NooNoo blanket at the celebrated Maison&Objets show in Paris.

Tinkâ??s Vietnamese Factory

Tink built their factory in Vietnam for the following reasons:

• To keep up with product demand

• To maintain control of product quality, production values as well as ethical and eco-friendly standards.

• To ensure high quality working standards for their employees

• To allow consumers to experience their products â??at a price which [â?¦isâ?¦] realistic, affordable and unbelievably good value for the quality of the product.â??

What are working conditions at Tinkâ??s Vietnamese factory like?

Vietnamese workers of all ages and skill levels reputedly enjoy â??European standardâ?? working conditions, which include:

• Fair wages

• 6 day working week

• An 8 hour working day

• One hour for lunch break, during which time a freshly prepared, free cooked lunch is served to all workers

• Entitlement to annual and compassionate leave

Does Tink get products or services from anywhere else?

Yes: For example they are supplied by

â??[a] working cooperative in Bolivia, employing women from their local community.â??

This is where the alpaca and cotton knit sheep come from, which are

â??carefully handmade by a village knitting group in central Boliviaâ?¦[who are very]â?¦professionalâ?¦[and]â?¦paid fairly.â??

They also source their textiles from

‘reliable certified companies around the world, [including ethical companies in China,]â??

Doesnâ??t this mean that their carbon foot print is very high?

Itâ??s probably not as high as you might think because:

â??[W]here possible [we] ship [textiles] and our [final] product by sea â?? which takes longer and is more cost effective [so that] when [â?¦ourâ?¦] product eventually reaches its destination, it is delivered with the maximum damage limitation possible to the environment.â??

*Are Tinkâ??s Products Fair Trade Certified?

No. They cannot actually be officially certified fair trade because this certification is not available in Vietnam, as it is with products like coffee and cotton in other countries. If what they say about themselves is true, it would seem that if the certification existed in Vietnam, they would have earned it.

Tinkâ??s Eco-Ethos: Green Consumerism Is What You Can Do To Save the Planet

Tinkâ??s ethos is, to me, simultaneously inspiring and troubling, due to the faith this company appears to have in the power of green consumerism to save the environment. From what is on their website, they appear to support the theory that if the consumer demands more eco-friendly, ethical goods, then manufacturers will be compelled to make them for us. If only it were this simple.

[If you arenâ??t familiar with the debate that surrounds green consumerism, I would suggest that itâ??s worth looking into. Why not have a gander at this post here, where I give you my version and some additional links.]

To be fair, their website does emphasise the importance of informed green consumerism â?? in fact Tink goes to great lengths to emphasise the pitfalls of blindly buying anything that claims to be organic or eco-friendly or ethical, because quite often something can be organic but unethical, or ethical but environmentally unfriendly and so on and so forth.

Tink counsels would-be champions of green consumerism to remember that cheap, mass produced products and services are usually ethically dubious &/or environmentally damaging, and that it is therefore potentially better to buy a bit less and spend a bit more on a few â??investment purchasesâ?? - high quality products that are made to last a long time but are not destined to moulder in landfill for an eternity.
It may cost more to ensure that all production, manufacture and shipping processes are as ethically and environmentally friendly as possible but the end result is worth it. There at least I would agree with them more or less wholeheartedly.

So in summary: Minkbaby’s review of Tink/The NooNoo Design Company

I think that Tinkâ??s products are lovely and that everything Jo Ashburner and her company has achieved is a testament to what can be built on optimism, creativity and really hard work. My unease with Tinkâ??s faith in the power of green consumerism does not mean that I think itâ??s all bunk â?? far from it, and I am not in any way opposed to Tink or its products.

TINK/The NooNoo Design Company Products Reviewed By Minkbaby:

RRP £15.00