Reusable Nappy Week

WMD – 208kg for 6 disposables ?

Considering they’re pretty featherweight it’s a little extreme a figure.

Not that I’m into disposables, but those stats speak for themselves.

hey randomgit – can your wife make an adult sized one?

im thinking of becoming an astronaut.

studies seem to indicate that there’s no clear environmental advantage between the two

Some studies show a clear difference between the two. For example, a study by Landbank Consultancy (whoever they are) in 1991 supposedly came up with these figures:

Cloth nappies (9 per day) uses 2352MJ of enery, 12.4m3 of waste water, 25kg of non-renewable raw materials, 4kg of renewable raw materials, 4kg of domestic solid waste, and needed 1,150 to 6,800ha of land for raw materials.

6 disposable nappies, on the other hand, used 8900MJ, 28m3, 208kg, 361kg, 240kg and 29,500-32,200ha, making them 3.5, 2.3, 8.3, 90, 60 and 4-30 times as resource hungry.

Not saying there aren’t other studies saying there isn’t a difference – just saying that there are studies saying there is a difference. I wish there was some definitive data either way – any pointers?

We use disposables, if it matters.

Disposeable FTW, quick, easy, good for the spud. Two thumbs up.

prevention is better than the cure. don’t have babies, pity I don’t listen to my own advice.

One million nappies a day go into Australian landfill- how sustainable is that?
I used cloth for 2 babies- with disposables for emergencies.
The soaking, washing isn’t that bad- I mean it’s not as if we have to boil ’em up, mangle them out- I mean most of us have access to water saving automatic washing machines??

Really? I piss on my lemon tree in my back yard!

I haven’t yet taken a dump on the front rose garden though. My neighbourhood is way to highbrow for that!

VY~V8 – don’t get into the realm of putting faeces onto your garden…

Very nasty consequences…

Maybe I need to combat global warming by not using nappies at all, and just inserting pipes into my kid’s orifices to suck out any nasties, and compress them into garden fertiliser pellets.

My wife makes the lining of her clothies from polar fleece. Draws the moisture right out and it very comfortable and soft to boot.

I’ll buy you a mintie to get you over it bonfire.

“They even look cuter than disposables!”
who cares, its only there cause the baby is too young wipe its own ass and you replace them regularly enough that ultimately, does it really matter that much how cute they look. form and function over fashion is my motto when it came to my babies arses.

this is one of the most ridiculous ‘news’ items ive ever seen on riotact.

nappies ?

please.

I don’t think using the water is much of an issue, as it ends up back in the environment anyway.

We don’t actually use that many nappies – I would think less than half a dozen per day.

Cloth nappies how have layers of different fabrics (like camping clothes) and they can also draw the liquid away from the baby.

It uses as much water to make one disposable nappie as it does to wash a reusable one.

And you dont end up with half a green bin full of dirty nappies every week.

I guess I could save our dirty nappies if you guys want to reuse them, though.

I use disposables mostly because they construction of the nappies means that moisture is drawn away from the bub’s skin, so they are a lot less susceptible to nappy rash. Happy baby = happy wife = happy me.

I’m sure that the other sort ‘look great’, but my son’s health and comfort is more important.

Having dug through Canberra’s waste products for a couple of weeks, I can confirm that at least 50% of what I was digging through was undecomposed nappies.

We’re about to start drinking our cloth nappy waste, so the environmental impact of that choice of nappy product could be regarded as close to 0%

Scaremongers such as the producers of disposable nappies will probably tell you otherwise, but ask yourself this question in logic: Where else will the toilet/laundry water go when it hits the water purification plant ?

(btw filter product becomes dirtfill or compost eventually – offsetting the {solid} component of the waste)

We use cloth, but have a packet of disposables for emergencies – a couple in the car for example. Mini Maelinar changed nappy sizes before we got through the first bundle.

We use cloth as a cost cutting measure. We save a lot on nappies and we don’t notice the drudgery of pre cleaning washing and hanging anymore.

They are very easy to make. If anyone wants a pattern I can pass on the wifes own one.

NSW EPA points out: “The disposal of baby wastes by whatever means is damaging to the environment. Both cloth and disposable nappy systems impact adversely on the environment, but the available studies seem to indicate that there’s no clear environmental advantage between the two.”

Got this quote from “The Choice Guide to Baby Products” – a very useful book to buy if you’ve got a little one on the way.

Every serious analysis of cost-benefit and environmental impact over the years

Could you point me toward these studies? The patter of tiny feet will probably make an appearance in my house sometime in the future, so i’m very interested in this topic.

Gotta love the unqualified promotion of sustainability of re-usable v disposable that relies on there being some inherrant evil in having a disposable nappy occupying space in landfill. Every serious analysis of cost-benefit and environmental impact over the years has found little measurable diference between the two.