A question of waste - Nappies, choices and the family?

Question

Ok, so I am asking for your thoughts on this statement/question.

A report in one of todays papers states that a certain London Council is going to subsidise parents if they switch to cloth nappies instead of using disposable nappies. They say 3% of the UK's landfill waste is that of disposed nappies. So they are taking the green path. Fair enough but is this misguided?

Lets think here, how many extra washes could be created to wash all these millions of nappies? Surely this is not green! The extra carbon footprint created would be immense. No? They keep on going on about it in the press.

Also the practicalities...your out in town and your baby poops. Going to fold it up and take it home with you? As you walk through the bakery smelling of baby poop.

Also are they not much larger than disposable nappies..make sure you buy a bigger changing bag?

So is this nonsense? Would you switch to cloth nappies?

Also it is said that councils will charge by 'pay as you throw'

Dont families get a raw deal again from this 'famil friendly' government..more nappies whatever their form means more waste..and naturally larger families mean wore waste anyway, beware the family.

By the way I am a happily married father of two

Answer 1

Other local councils have been offering monetry incentives to encourage use of reusable nappies for some time. Research has been undertaken and looked at costs and environmental impact comparing disposable nappies to reusable nappies (taking into account washing and drying). Reusable nappies come out tops on both fronts.

From a practical point of view when you're 'out in town and your baby poops' you use public toilet changing facilites. The 'poop' is caught in a flushable liner and is easily disposed of down the loo. The cloth nappy is placed in a nappy sack or any other sealable bag and taken home, stored in a nappy bin. A load of nappies need only be done every other day, or even every 3 days (if you get a few extra nappies).

It is not nonsense. Slowly over the pst few years there has been an increased use of reusable nappies. Many types are available, they have moved on a long way from terry squares.
If you do a google search, or even look on ebay you may well be suprised.

Answer 2

I agree with Ms PinkKitten... to a degree. I care for three children and they all used cloth diapers - Bumpkins. The mother's reasoning involved the same that Ms. PinkKitten expressed, but mostly bleach and other chemicals used to treat disposables. Right now only one of the children is still in diapers - the 9 month old - and we do a load of diapers every other day. We wash with phosphate-free detergent and borax and sometimes vinegar and then do an extra rinse. Occasionally, the parents will supplement with an unbleached, chemical-free disposables brand.

I have recently questioned some of this families "environmentally friendly" choices, and I've honestly begun to question if there really is any way to win; are these new trendy choices really "sustainable," especially if a majority were to adopt them? I, too, have questioned the extra water and detergent use in the event that more parents would go to cloth... but I also see the advantage to having only soft cotton touch my baby's bummie... of course, I've also wondered about dyes and other chemicals used to make cloth diapers.

As far as baby about town in cloth; it really is no different. In a way, I actually think cloth is better when out because most baby poop slides right off the cotton into the toilet. Then you fold it up and put it in a washable canvass stink- and leak-proof bag.

In the end, I think I'd make the change to cloth if I had another baby, but I'd pay very close attention to how often I washed them, how much water and detergent were needed, and I'd find the least synthetic materials possible.

Answer 3

I use cloth nappies and love them. You don't carry the poop, you can buy bio degradable nappy liners which catch it you just flush it away. I does create washing BUT at least it isn't poisoning the ground. A lot of landfils become housing estates. Do you want to live on a pile of nappies that won't degrade for up to 800 years? They are better for babie's skin as they don't have a layer of bleached pulp on their skin, they cost less in the long run, this is including the extra electricity used to wash them. Nappies cost around £30 per month and get more expensive as the child grows. There is a wide variety of different nappies out there that are reusable, cotton, wool, bamboo( The fibres make very good nappies and are naturally anti bacterial ) and even hemp!
I have even put the nappies in with a normal wash to save energy. The clothes come out just as fresh and don't smell anything like dirty nappies. It may be an inconveinience having more things in your nappy bag but it is kinder for baby and the bank balance.
I will also keep my son's nappies for my next child, even more cost effective.

Answer 4

I currently have 2 extra loads of washing per week for my cloth nappies, the energy used for those two loads in comparison to the 50 disposables that I would need to dispose of in that same week seems much less of a carbon footprint dont you think?

It is no different sticking a cloth nappy into a nappy bag as it is to stick a soiled babygrow into one, after all we dont chuck clothes that get smelly do they? To be honest it doesn't happen that often and when it does well it's part of life.

Considering the chemicals in disposables it is no wonder that there are now so many people growing up to be infertile and also having allergies etc.

I used disposables for my first 2 children but I have now seen things in a new light!

Cloth nappies have came a long way since the terry squares held together with a nappy pin, they are now super absorbant, look great, and wash and dry easily, what more could anyone want and what could be more natural?

Answer 5

You know its not all that long ago that there wasnt disposoble nappies. I had my children in the 70s and it was mostly terry squares that everyone used. Disposibles were nothing like they are now. Anyway there was never a problem when out we just carried nappies with us and chaged them just the same as now only we did put the wet nappy in a carrier bad and took it home. There wasnt any baby changing rooms any where then either so really I dont think we went about so much as mothers do now.

Answer 6

Actually a lot of water gets used to make disposable diapers as well. So depending on the figures you go by (and the amount of water used to make disposables and the amount of water used to wash diapers is highly variable) that comes out to almost the same.

As for whether washing cloth or making disposable uses more fossil fuels, cloth is going to come out ahead. For one thing cloth diapers are only shipped once, and are washed on cold. Disposables also tend to contain petro-chemicals.

You just put the poopy cloth diapers in a ziplock bag then you can't smell it. There are even reusable, washable sealable bags specially made for this purpose. Also you can get paper liner inserts for cloth diapers that catch the poop so you can just flush it.

Cloth diapers are somewhat larger depending on the type but I don't think it makes a big enough difference when it comes to diaper bags. Some parents find it hard to get clothes to fit over cloth, but again some cloth diapers are bulkier than others.

I have considered cloth but I haven't made the switch. For one thing my grandma did my laundry and bought my diapers the first 6 months after I had my baby (yes she is a sweetheart to come over and do that for me) and she is very much against cloth. Don't even MENTION it around her *lol*. Now I can't even keep up on my laundry as it is, mind you it is the putting it away that I don't get around to, and cloth diapers don't need to be folded, you can just keep an extra pail or two around and leave the clean ones in a diaper pail.

The other thing is where I live the city picks up compost, and diapers go into that. So I pretend that they are compostable even though I know that probably a lot of the diaper isn't.

Answer 7

All of my kids had cloth nappies largely because we couldn't afford disposables. There was no extra effort in using cloth over disposable and certainly the objections to carrying a soiled cloth nappy are not well founded. What difference does carrying a soiled cloth nappy have over a soiled disposable or soiled clothes? Ever hear of a plastic bag?
Additionally I never had one of those big nappy bags that mothers carry around, I used my handbag..and carried one change of clothes a couple of nappies and a bib/bottle --I never needed more than that.

These days the reusable cloth nappies or nappy pants are fantastic - no more pins!

I'd still choose cloth over disposable - no more extra effort and no where near as expensive or detrimental to the environment.

Answer 8

I used cloth from birth until about 11-12 months, when she just produced more than the cloth could handle.

I put dirty diapers in plastic grocery bags I reused from the store, and put them in the bin when I got home. A diaper wrapped up in a plastic bag tied of inside of a diaper bag is not going to stink up the store. It never did for us.

I used a service, and all it took was one heavy-duty wash load, which I'm told was the equivalent of 2 regular large washes, PER WEEK. That's not as big a footprint as you seem to think.

Besides, the use of gas/electricity to run a washer is far less than the million years to biodegrade a disposable diaper/nappy. In the long run, the washing of cloth is still greener.

I used disposables from age one to nearly age 3, so I know how convenient they are. But I know very well how much permanent waste I put in the earth using them.

Answer 9

Well, if a person is using biodegradable laundry detergent, then the washing isn't as much of an impact as the landfill is for disposable nappies. And if you dry the diapers on the line on sunny days (which actually bleaches & deodorizes), then you've saved some more environmental impact.

Furthermore, it's proven that babies diapered in cloth use to learn the toilet earlier than those in disposable nappies (can't feel the wetness), so the total number of changes is brought down considerably.

As for your practicalities, when one changes a cloth nappy, you tip the poopies into the toilet and flush it away. You don't fold it up and carry it round! And you can stuff the whole wet nappy into a resealable bag for the trip home -- no odor. I did it loads of times when I was diapering with cloth. I washed the resealable bags, too, so I wasn't pitching those.

The size of a dry cloth nappy is a wee bit bigger than a dry disposable, maybe 10-15%. Not much of a burden. But disposables get bigger when wet, and cloth stay the same size. And then you need nylon pants to keep the baby's clothing wet, but those take up hardly any room.

Furthermore, when you use cloth, you change the baby when he/she is wet or dirty. This is healthier than leaving a used disposable strapped to baby until it's full. Who wants their child to run round with a toilet strapped to their bottoms?

I started out with cloth...I used disposables on occasion. They are handy when baby has the runs or something like that, but overall, cloth worked fine. I washed at home with biodegradable laundry detergent and dried on the line. Plus it worked out to be quite less expensive, as my 2 dozen cloth nappies and 12 nylon pants (4 different sizes) lasted me through three children!

Answer 10

Yep cloth nappies. Did both with 1st. Cloth and nappy free with 2nd, occasional degradable disposables. 3rd Nappy free, occsional cloth and once degradable disposables.

I cant ever remember it being a problem using them, they were the original terry towelings my mum used on me and my brother, with additional modern ones that i have been given over the years and have now been passed on again to others in need.

Im not sure how the washing compares to the manufacture of chemically unsound disposables which do not rot down and lay in landfill, often with live polio in them from vacinated babies. A friend of a friend worked in a factory that makes them and the staff have to wear safety clothing and masks because of the dangerous chemicals!!!!