Reusable Nappies and the Environment

6th August 2010

For many parents consideration of the environment becomes very important as they bring a new baby into the world.  With an average of 4000-6000 nappy changes between birth and potty training, many mums and dads are looking for an alternative to one use disposable nappies and are looking into reusable nappies for their child.

The extent to which the environment benefits from the use of cloth nappies is a hotly debated subject.  A number of factors can be taken into consideration when assessing the environmental impact of both disposables or washable nappies.  These include:

• Chemicals used in the manufacture of raw materials e.g. bleaching agents, dyes, chemical gel
• Type of materials used in production e.g. synthetic, organic, sustainable
• Water used in production of raw materials e.g. for wood pulp or crop production
• Oil used in production of plastics used in nappies & packaging
• Energy used in the production process
• Energy used in the transportation of raw materials and finished product
• Laundering energy cost – water, heating, powering of washers/dryers
• Disposal to landfil
• The extent to which nappies can be reused & recycled

 

Although there is an impact to the environment using both disposable and cloth nappies, the sheer numbers of disposable nappies involved – approx. 3 billion nappies per year in the UK alone – and the fact that they are one use items with 90% remaining in landfil means that the carbon footprint for disposable nappies is much greater than that of reusable nappy systems. 

An updated  report from the UK Environmental Agency published in 2008 (http://tinyurl.com/39nn5m5) concluded that washing using a full load in the machine, 100% line drying and reusing on more than one child, reusable nappies can be up to 40% better for the environment than disposables.  It was clear however that the way in which cloth nappies are used and laundered does have an impact on how green they can be.  In order to reduce the impact to the environment as much as possible:

• Store nappies in a lidded bucked – without soaking
• Use A+ rated appliances
• Use small amounts of eco friendly detergents with no chemical sanitisers or fabric conditioners
• Wash nappies at less than 60C
• Use full loads within the washing machine
• Line dry cloth nappies wherever possible
• Tumble dry as little as possible
• Do not iron the nappies!
• Switch to a Green Energy Tariff for your electricity
• Use a minimal number of reusable nappies (many family use as few as 24 nappies)
• Reuse nappies on 2nd and subsequent children or pass on to other families

 

So when looking at the environmental aspects of reusable nappy use, they can be more eco friendly than disposable nappies but they must be used and laundered in a reponsible way.