In Australia alone, approximately 800 million single-use nappies are delivered to landfill sites every year, and they may take up to 500 years to degrade. That’s over 2 million every day! Amounting to 110,000 tonnes of solid waste yearly, or nearly 60 Olympic-size pools full!

If you’ve ever said “NO” to cloth nappies because:

• - “Soaking is such a chore!”
• - “They're too much hard work!”
• - “Don't cloth nappies smell...?”

Then it’s time to take another look at the facts.

What price this convenience?

Aside from the obvious environmental cost (we’ll come back to this) of all this slow to decompose waste and the fact that dumping human waste in the rubbish bin is against World Health Organisation guidelines, let’s start with a look at the financial impact.

Based on an average of 6 nappy changes a day, for a period of 2.5 years, one infant might use 5475 disposable nappies.  It is interesting to note that studies have found that the average number of changes for an infant using non-disposable nappies is 9 per day.  This has been shown to be primarily due to a combination of a desire to save money (by using less nappies) and the plastic covering of disposables preventing early detection of wetness.

Now, the price of a disposable nappy can range between 35c and 50c, if we take a conservative price of 40c, the cost of keeping one child in disposable nappies (over 2.5 years) is $2190.

The price of setting up with reusable nappies can also vary, but various Australian souces suggest a range of $250 to $850, plus $150 for laundering (water, electricity, detergent). It’s easy to see the cost of disposable nappies far outweighs the reusable versions. In fact using cloth nappies can save more than $1000, more if you have more than one child.

Source: Australian Nappy Network

Environmental Costs

The Environmental impact of the full lifecycle of nappies per infant, per year can be summarised:

Source: Women's Environment Network

Disposable nappies were shown to use 3.5 times as much energy, 2.3 times more waste water and 8.3 times as many irreplaceable raw materials as reusable nappies. Worse, disposables consumed 90 times more renewable raw materials, created 60 times more solid waste and required up to 30 times more land. A conclusive picture – throw-away nappies are much more environmentally damaging than cloth alternatives.

What are the Alternatives?

If you see a square of terry towelling and safety pins when you think if cloth nappies think again!  These days reusable nappies come in a vast range of shapes, sizes and materials.

Reusable nappies come in four main styles:

• -All-in-one or all-in-two nappies, which include absorbent fabrics and a waterproof outer.  Parts may separate for faster drying.
• -Pocket nappies, which consist of an inner fabric – usually a stay-dry synthetic – and a waterproof outer, with an opening. Absorbent fabric is inserted into the pocket opening.
• -Fitted nappies, which are shaped and elasticated, but need a waterproof cover.
• -Flat or prefold nappies, which need to be folded and used with a waterproof cover.

Modern reusable nappies are made from fabrics like hemp, bamboo, microfiber and polyurethane laminate in place of cotton and PVC. They fasten with velcro or press-studs and are easy to launder.

So given the evidence, what are the choices?  An expensive, polluting, resource-consuming, waste-generating piece of potentially toxic plastic? Or a cheaper, soft, cloth alternative, which reduces waste, saves resources, limits environmental damage - but has to be washed like underwear?

Not much choice really, is there?

Reusable Nappy Week: October 12-18, 2009

There’s a host of events happening around Australia  – check out http://www.reusablenappyweek.com.au/events.htm

For more information see:

http://www.nappynetwork.org.au

http://www.reusablenappyweek.com.au

http://ausnappynetwork.wordpress.com/

Want to know more for yourself:

http://cheekybutts.com.au/wordpress/?page_id=18

http://www.ecovoice.com.au/evonline/evo-30/greencheeks-evo30.html

http://www.choice.com.au/Reviews-and-Tests/Babies-and-Kids/Food-and-health/Nappies/Nappies/Page/Environmental%20impact.aspx

http://www.clothncraft.com.au/index.php?main_page=page_2

Women's Environment Network

Or even take it to the extreme - No Nappies:

http://www.tribalbaby.org/ECindex.html

Other recent Australian Studies/References:

Analysis Of Disposable, Reusable And Compostable Nappies Under Brisbane Conditions

Life Cycle Assessment: Reusable And Disposable Nappies In Australia