Information
Are Washables Better for the Environment?
The environmental reasons for using washable cloth nappies:
One of the most popular triggers for parents considering real nappies as opposed to disposables is the obvious benefit to the environment. Our landfill situation is in crisis and many councils around the country have nappy schemes to encourage parents to choose washables, some even offer refunds for the cost.
Research has shown that:
* 8 million disposable nappies are thrown away in Britain every day. Disposables take from 200-500 years to decompose. In fact the first disposable ever worn still exists!
* Before potty training, about 6,000 disposable nappies will be used by one baby as opposed to re-using the same 24-50 "real" nappies
* Every £1 spent on single use nappies costs the Council Tax payer 10p to dispose of them. The total cost nationally for the disposal of nappies is £40 million each year
* Disposables use 90 times more non-renewable material, for example, one cup of crude oil is needed to make one disposable nappy
* To keep one baby in disposable nappies for two and a half years, four and a half trees will be cut down to produce the nappies
* Disposable nappies make up about 2.6% of the average household rubbish in a year, which is equivalent to the weight of nearly 70,000 double-decker buses. If lined up from front to end, the buses would stretch from London to Edinburgh! (that was from the waste and resources action programme www.wrap.org.uk, who else would have the time to work that out?)
* Disposable nappies (and other absorbent products) have chemical granules inside them that can absorb many times their own volume in liquid - an almost miraculous feat that only a totally synthetic material could do. This material was not designed to be disposed of in the environment so it is unfortunate (and irresponsible) that it is almost exclusively disposed of in this way via the disposable nappy and similar products. There is a yet more worrying aspect: this substance was removed from tampons some years ago because of its alleged link with Toxic Shock Syndrome. These granules turn into gel when wet and there has been no study to determine its effects on babies when kept against the skin for long periods
* In the modern world we can access enough knowledge to enable us to make the right choice for our children, the environment and our children's children - so make the intelligent choice.
