Bibs, blankies, socks and mittens: newborns now gifted with sustainable baby box

New mums will be gifted with a box full of sustainable products for newborns upon registration of their child at Identity Malta’s offices at Mater Dei Hospital or Marsa, and the Gozo registry.

The baby box includes 10 sustainable products, such as a baby blanket made of bamboo, reusable nappy and a tote-bag made from recycled plastic bottles, feeding bib, teether, socks and mittens.

The box is aimed at introducing sustainable living, forming part of a three-month pilot project starting Monday, 15 November, by the Directorate of Sustainable Development.

The ‘You Hold Their Future’ initiative was announced by the energy minister Miriam Dalli, and parliamentary secretary for citizenship Alex Muscat, at the Lil’ Ville Childcare Centre.

“Through the Sustainable Baby Box initiative we want to help nurture a sustainable culture within our households. We also know that sustainable living may not be easily accessible for everyone, for different reasons,” Dalli said.

“We decided to take the first step and reach out to help further the knowledge on how it is possible to lead a sustainable life at every stage of our lives. We are doing this also through other supporting measures targeting not only families, but also students, youths and enterprises. In order to reach sustainability in economic, environmental and social terms, we all need to work together.”

Alex Muscat said Identity Malta’s role in distributing the boxes at Mater Dei would make matters easier for families who can now register their newborns in hospital, without having to go anywhere else.

“Distributing these baby boxes from Identity Malta’s office will enhance the services we offer, introducing new families to a sustainable lifestyle, instilling values that will hopefully last a lifetime… the agency practices what it preaches by adopting a sustainable work ethic, offering many of its services online, therefore eliminating the use of paper,” Muscat said.

The initiative aims at addressing three Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the United Nations: sustainable economy, responsible consumption and production and climate change.