Wet wipes ban

[Eire12]

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/plastic-wet-wipes-ban

I've only heard about this now although it has a date of Dec 25. From May 2027, non- recyclable single-use wipes will be banned. It includes baby wipes & face wipes. It may be difficult for low income families as I'm sure there may be a shortage of recyclable ones which will push prices up. Good for the environment though. Although if people didn't flush them this wouldn't be an issue.

How do we change our baby's then?

Most wet wipes don’t contain plastic anymore anyway so it won’t matter. Companies will just change their formula to non plastic. The Huggies baby wipes work out to 50p a pack from Amazon and are plastic free. These are the cheapest I’ve found of any baby wipes.

It’s not banning wet wipes completely.

It only affects plastic based single use wipes. There are endless types of non plastic single use wet wipes available on the market, including supermarket brands.

It’s a non event, like the plastic straw ban.

Hope so lol we usecthe pampers ones

About time

I'm a very low income family. I've used plastic free wipes for years.

To quote @rwalker: About time.

People have been having babies for centuries, disposable wipes on the otherhand haven't been around for that long in comparison...

Buy cheap facecloths or reusable wipes. You’ve months to stock up. Get a plastic food container tub and put water, baby wash and a couple of drops of tea tree and lavender.

put a few cloths in every day or two.

you can also use a similar container with some water and lavender to store the mucky ones.

if you get white cotton facecloths you can wash them at 90.

they’re also much better than wet wipes for cleaning up poonamis in my experience. (I’ve had 3 kids)

hope that helps. I’m sure there’s guides on the internet as well in case what I’ve said is confusing.

Your title is misleading and I think you've misunderstood what is being banned.

It will be illegal to sell or supply single-use wet wipes that contain plastic is all. Disposable wipes that don't contain plastic will still be available.

It's a non-issue. Manufacturers will be working to change their manufacturing already to create plastic-free versions if not done already. As the deadline approaches there will be massive discounts so you can stock up on a year of baby wipes at dirt-cheap prices because the ban only affects the plastic ones being sold. The shops will still sell baby wipes that are plastic free. Life will go on.

It is actually perfectly possible to change a baby's nappy using a cloth and water. Disposable wipes have existed for less than a century but somehow the human race managed to exist for hundreds of thousands of years prior to that.

About bloody time. Plastic free wipes are available. Alternatively a damp flannel works just fine.

This is very helpful, but please don't put tea tree and lavender into any kind of baby wipe. Essential oils should not be used on babies, although chamomile in very small amounts can be ok and calming. And yes, I have studied aromatherapy..

I thought they were already banned - about time!

Or @newmummy2006yay just use the plastic free wet wipes that will still be on the market rather than putting yourself through this rigmarole 😂

I used the cheeky wipes essential oils. That’s what they had in them - the recommendation was literally a drop or two. They’re still available for sale here: https://www.cheekywipes.com/reusable-wipes-oils-sprays.html?srsltid=AU7gw4WBZlk83mr2NPsChwF8KF24sUp6ios72q0pLNFfoooOKvcoJilU but other brands are available.

if the recommendations have changed, I apologise.

It’s really not hard. It takes next to no time every other day to set the containers up, you save a fortune, and there’s so much washing with babes anyway that I didn’t find it added to the washing pile.

wait til you hear what sort of nappies I used …..

Hopefully plastic free wipes work to a decent standard rather than being totally useless like paper straws?

I don’t routinely use straws but like a McDonald's slushy lemonade thing every once in a while and always find that the straw collapses into a soggy mess before I finish the drink.

The recyclable part for baby wipes sounds like a bit of a red herring too as surely people aren't putting poo encrusted wipes in their recycling bin?

Obviously I wouldn't flush wipes and avoid single use items where possible (I never use wipes anyway) but here it sounds like the avoidance of plastic is the aim rather than increasing recycling?

Plus as a side issue people need to dispose of responsibly but preferably use reusable items where possible.

The gov link says nothing about recycling wet wipes. Just banning the plastic ones. You can’t recycle a shitty wipe. The plastic free ones will degrade in time hopefully. Depending on how tightly they are binned with other items.

What did you do when you were out and about? Did you take a box in your nappy bag?

No. I used two wet bags. One for clean and one for dirty. I just gave those exact bags to my son and daughter in law and they’re using them now.

didn’t give them my boxes though because I still use the wipes for removing my make up and I’m not that generous 😂😂😂😂. I did buy them a cheeky wipes kit when the baby was born though.

I had cheeky wipes, they were great. One wipe could get rid of the same amount of poo as about five disposables. The child is now six. Seems the box now has a circular bit in the lid so you don’t need to open the whole thing, very clever! I used to take disposables out and about though.

The oil doesn’t dilute which is the problem, you wouldn’t put neat tea tree/lavender oil onto your babies skin normally, yet in a box of wipes that’s exactly what is happening, it can burn skin. Oil and water doesn’t mix we know that, so why would it work in this situation?

I know cheeky wipes suggest the oils but isn’t that for the dirty wipes?

On the cheeky wipes wagon, we didn’t end up using them for bums during the baby changing days but DD is now 7 and I still use the cloths for grubby faces & hands, as a washcloth in the bath, to put under a cup to wash paintbrushes in, removing cleanser etc etc, so if you do also use them as baby wipes (and get a second set for faces), they’re amazingly good value.

I wonder what the 'plastic free' wipes will look like though? Will they disintegrate and therefore not be as useful?