As of Monday, 15th November, all new-born children in Malta and Gozo will start receiving a sustainable baby box upon registration of the child.
The baby box includes 10 sustainable products, such as a baby blanket made of bamboo, a reusable nappy and a tote bag made from recycled plastic bottles, a feeding bib, teether, socks and mittens.
The box, with the theme of ‘You Hold Their Future’, is aimed at introducing sustainable living in our lives at every stage, including at the start of our lives. Through the Directorate of Sustainable Development, the distribution will kick off as a three month pilot project, to be extended as announced in the Budget 2022.
This project was announced by Minister for Energy, Enterprise and Sustainable Development Miriam Dalli together with Parliamentary Secretary for Citizenship and Communities Alex Muscat, during the launch of the Baby Box 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 various reasons. 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 through other supporting measures targeting not only families, but also students, youths and enterprises,” said Minister Miriam Dalli.
“In order to reach sustainability in economic, environment and social terms, we all need to work together,” Minister Dalli concluded.
Parliamentary Secretary for Citizenship and Communities Alex Muscat said that Identity Malta’s role in distributing these boxes is yet another example of the agency’s commitment towards facilitating its services.
Parliamentary Secretary Alex Muscat explained that Identity Malta’s office in Mater Dei was set up in order to make matters easier for families, who can now register their new-borns in hospital, without having to go anywhere else. “Distributing these baby boxes from Identity Malta’s office will enhance the services we offer, as well as introducing new families to a sustainable lifestyle and instilling values that will hopefully last a lifetime,” the Parliamentary Secretary added.
He said that the agency practices what it preaches by adopting a sustainable work ethic, offering many of its services online, therefore eliminating the use of paper.
This initiative aims to address two Sustainable Development Goals by the United Nations; sustainable economy, and responsible consumption and production.
This Baby Box can be collected from the offices at Identity Malta from Mater Dei Hospital or in Marsa and the Gozo Registry Office, when registering a new-born.
Source: Office of the Prime Minister