Jenny and I are trying reasonably hard to reduce our impact on the planet, we hardly use the car, buy fair trade clothes and baby stuffs and other things.
We made a decision early on in oscar’s pregnancy that we wanted to try and make everything to do with him either ethically produced and low impact on the environment. So we got lot’s of second hand things, and bought organic fair trade reusable nappies and, biodegradable wipes and disposable nappies.
We only use the disposable nappies at night and the other night I was putting a bag of nappies in the bin and realized that we are contributing to landfill and waste big time. Just using disposable nappies at night is heaps of nappies. Imagine how much waste people who only use disposable create. Plus it’s not just nappies it’s the plastic bag you put them in and the wipes as well.
Most people in the world don’t use disposable nappies, most people can’t afford them. They are a rich persons attemtp at not dealiong with the unclean and trying to make things faster. Most of our parents didn’t use disposable and they coped. So you have to clean off a bit of poo and put cloth ones in the washing machine it’s not actually a big deal.
I think using disposable nappies is irresponsible, some under paid worker in china makes a plastic nappy for you to use once then you throw into a garbage tip where it takes hundreds of years to decompose. I think if we are to respect and care for the land God has given us then we should take serious steps towards reducing our impact, and nappies is a major area we can make a start.
In the UK 4% of their garbage is disposable nappies, 8 million nappies a day go to landfill.
In Australia we use over 800 million disposable nappies a year which takes up 145,000 cubic metres of landfill space.Weighing 111,000 tonnes.
Imagine if a country like India or china used disposable nappies on all their babies. If 20 million people in Australia can create 111,000 tonnes of nappy waste a year.
Please if you use disposable think about using reusable, try and put aside the convenient factor and think, will it be convenient for generations to come?
And yes jenny and I use disposable nappies at night, so we are not perfect but we are working towards using none.
If you want to explore some options here are some links.
its hard isn’t it – there’s always more you can do (or not do as may be the case) to make a positive difference. every little bit helps, but it can be too easy to be complacent. or think that the little bit is enough.
meanwhile, the bags we use aren’t plastic, but cornstarch and biodegrade.
hmmm… well done howies- though I know thats not the response you are looking for. I am a disposable user,mainly for the sake of maintaining my sanity during these first 6 months, I found it hard enough keeping enough clothes clean, etc, let alone nappies too. Last week there were three babies/toddlers living at out house and when I noticed our big bin was half full from nappies I realised the horribleness of the landfill we were creating. I am keen to change to cloth nappies now that Evie and I are settling down, and especially now that we have an internal laundry and a clothesline- hooray, so would be keen to know which nappies you bought and which you recommend most, I had a bit of a look at the websites. Also, I have other friends who poo poo the water usage of cloth nappies- what do you reckon about that? anyway thanks for the spurring us on to make the change….
I have stopped wearing nappies in support of your campaign.
Are you sure that is wise scott??
And Fi, I’ll get jenny to tell you what nappies we have. In terms of water usage I don’t really see it as a problem as you do washing anyway so adding a few nappies to the wash doesnt really mean you are using more water. the downside is drying time you need to have enough nappies to ensure you always have dry ones ready to go. Also with disposable ones there are a few brands that make them with biodegradable materials.
we have the fitted bulk package – http://www.babybeehinds.com.au/new-to-cloth/bulk-package
The day ones work quite well (the hemp & PUL). Have had a couple of leaks – but that’s newborn poo for you – has leaked in disposables as well (both the Huggies newborns and the ones we use now, which are Bambo Nature – highly recommend them if you’re wanting a more environmentally friendly disposable option from http://ecobabe.com.au).
The wetness though isn’t too bad, but obviously it isn’t locked away like in a disposable – the PUL covers work quite well, you rotate two of them with each nappy change through the day. By the end of the day, they can be a little smelly depending on how much baby has wet, but it’s not awful.
With the night ones (bamboo), and the wool covers, we’ve only used them once or twice. I didn’t insert a booster, so his sheets were a bit damp. So thats my fault. Particularly as he can sleep for 5 or 6 or more hours at night.
So yeh. I would totally recommend them – but saying that we haven’t tried any other brands. The washing and drying isn’t too bad either. I do a rinse cycle with no detergent and just the nappies, then a proper wash with the nappies and any other normal washing. And wash every second day. Although the drying will get harder when summer passes – we don’t have a drier.
For the water side of things – http://www.babybeehinds.com.au/new-to-cloth/cloth-vs-disposables
Hope that helps!
What if you just burnt the used plastic nappies?
No landfill.
I’m a genius.
Thanks Jenny and Howie…
Thanks Jenny and Howie…
dry poo is a good fire starter
Ok, we thought about using modern cloth for our kids…I’m a very very bad housewife and therefore don’t keep up with washing in amongst my ridculous schedule and 2 kids. But, in saying that I totally agree with the concept and have quite a few friends who use them 100% of the time.
Jenny & Howie, maybe you could try lou lou’s, they have a night time nappy which apparently are great. I actually across them from a Facebook advert. I think the web address is http://www.loulounappies.com but I’m sure if you google enough you’ll find them.
You can even buy cheap polar fleece from spotlight to cut into strips and use as liners in your nappies. The material repels the poo and therefore makes it easier to wash the nappies. You can also use polar fleece pieces as nappy wipes. You can use sorbeline mixed with water and keep a container of fresh ones ready for use and just chuck them in the washing machine. Apparently it’s great at combating nappy rash as well…I’ll double check on the mixture for you.
Anyway, I feel guilty for not using cloth, but can’t see me changing in a hurry…very slack I know! The poor kids would end up pooing and weeing everywhere because I wouldn’t have clean nappies for them!
Good luck in your venture!
Ok, so we’re now doingg the cloth…go the cloth! I am lead to believe that by doing so I have reduced my carbon footprint by 40%!
we have had to rivert back to bambo nature disposals as Oscar has had some killer rashes lately. but soon we shall return to cloth land.
Well, if I were truthful I would actually say that we were using cloth and will return to them once Hamish stops having similar killer rashes from killer teeth!