Zero Waste Baby with Veronica Milsom

Is no baby at all better than having a ‘zero waste baby’? As she reaches the end of her eco-mum experiment, Veronica Milsom considers the impacts overpopulation is having on the environment. Speaking to Dr Doug Stein, from the American documentary ‘The Vasectomist’, about why he believes giving out vasectomies is the ultimate waste saving measure, leads Veronica and her husband Nick to ask themselves whether or not they should have any more children. 

Host: Veronica Milsom   Guest: Dr Doug Stein

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Would you breastfeed your baby until primary school if it meant avoiding a heap of plastic going into landfill? This is the question comedian Veronica Milsom is legitimately pondering as she tries to feed her baby using zero waste. Veronica is attempting to find the simplest ways to avoid the unnecessary packaging that comes with food… like those annoying yet very convenient single-use supermarket squeezy packs! With the help of Extended Breastfeeding advocate Maha Al Musa, Low Tox Life author Alexx Stuart, food expert Alice Zaslavsky and the entrepreneurs behind the waste-reducing ‘Subo’ bottle Glen and Julie-Anne Mayer, Veronica explores what her options are for healthy, low waste, low mess food for her baby.

Host: Veronica Milsom  Guests: Alexx Stuart, Maha Al Musa, Alice Zaslavsky, Glen and Julie-Anne Mayer, Jessie Mawson

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Can a toy-hoarding toddler learn to live as a minimalist? That’s one of many strange questions Veronica Milsom asks herself as she attempts to stop the stream of plastic gifts piling up in her house and starts trying to teach her 2 year old Lila to embrace minimalism. With advice from eco-mum and musician Kita Alexander, and a practical lesson from KonMarie Consultant and Marie Kondo enthusiast Pilar LLorente, Veronica attempts to help her family on their Zero Waste way by decluttering the plastic junk accumulating in her house.

Host: Veronica Milsom   Guests: Kita Alexander, Pilar LLorente, Anita Vandyke

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Can you potty train a newborn? In Veronica Milsom’s continued search for the best (read: easiest) ways to raise her baby using zero waste, she stumbles upon an ingenious technique called ‘Elimination Communication,’ which aims to overcome the need for nappies altogether. With the assistance of one of the UK’s leading potty training experts Rebecca Mottram, and the support of Elimination Communication advocate Alice Zaslavsky, Veronica tries this potty training method with her reluctant friend Jessie.

Host: Veronica Milson   Guests: Rebecca Mottram, Alice Zaslavsky

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Is it possible to reduce your waste by DIYing baby creams? As Veronica Milsom continues her quest to raise her baby using zero waste, she turns her attention to the unnecessary plastic packaging that comes with baby products. With the help of her favorite zero waste influencer, Anita Vandyke, Veronica learns to make homemade batches from scratch, but encounters an unforeseen problem when she strays from the recipe.

Host: Veronica Milsom Guest: Anita Vandyke

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Are cloth nappies really that eco-friendly!? As Veronica Milsom tries to reduce the amount of disposable nappies her baby Zoe is using, she discovers that the choice between disposable and reusable nappies is more complicated than she thought. Struggling, she turns to friends for their tips on using cloth nappies, gets a shock from an enviro expert about the carbon footprint of nappies and uncovers the secret loophole that has been keeping cloth nappy using parents sane. 

Host: Veronica Milsom, Guests: Craig Reucassel and Jessie Mawson

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How do you save your afterbirth from being incinerated as medical waste and find another use for it? This is Veronica Milsom’s first challenge on her Zero Waste Baby mission. In this episode Veronica finds out from her midwife Karen what other mums have saved their placentas for, she speaks to placenta encapsulator and umbilical artist Virginia Maddock about the multiple ways she reuses people’s afterbirth and she visits her old radio buddy Lewis Hobba to gift him with the aftermath of her afterbirth.

Host: Veronica Milsom, Guests: Virginia Maddock and Triple J's Lewis Hobba

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Raising a baby is hard. It’s even harder if you decide to do it without using anything that goes into landfill, like wipes or disposable nappies. But, this is the challenge that Veronica Milsom and her newborn, Zoe, have set themselves in order to do their bit for the environment. And the more they learn about zero waste living, the more they realise this journey will be VERY hard and will definitely involve some literal blood, sweat and tears.

Host: Veronica Milsom, Guest: ABC War on Waste's Craig Reucassel

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Comedian Veronica Milsom is a mum on a mission to reduce her tiny newborn's massive waste footprint.

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