Are you green when it comes to changing time? - 10 October 2008
Is your organic baby wearing eco nappies?
As well as choosing what is best for their baby with
organic skin care products, new mums are also now being encouraged to take steps to do what is right for the planet in their choice of nappies.
Landfill sites in the UK are quickly filling up, with disposable nappies making up around 5% of the waste they contain. When this waste biodegrades, it releases the greenhouse gas methane and contaminates the rainwater which falls on the site.
Babies aren’t going to stop ‘going’, so to address this problem mums are being urged to consider washable cotton nappies instead of single-use throwaway ones.
Some mums choose biodegradable nappies as they seem to be a more eco-friendly alternative to the disposable type. Unfortunately, there is little difference, as even a used disposable nappy will be more made up of than 80% biodegradable materials. Research suggests that each nappy will take around 500 years to biodegrade, and with each baby getting through a startling 5,000 disposable nappies, that means a lot of biodegrading landfill waste.
Cotton nappies, on the other hand, simply need to be popped in the washing machine (along with some eco-friendly washing powder) and are then ready to be reused. Whilst this does take more water and more energy than disposing of throwaway nappies, the overall environmental impact is much less severe.
However, cotton nappies don’t just help to save the planet. They are also effective in saving money too, with estimates suggesting that the average mum could save about £500 a year by switching from disposable to cotton nappies.