To get annoyed at all the waste

[Kiwiinkits]

Why don't people care! It drives me bonkers (and I'm no greeny hippy; just an average mum who puts out her recycling once a week).

I just don't know how parents can think nothing of throwing away disposable nappy after disposable nappy, until a child is over two! Why is there NO GUILT at using special plastic bags to throw the nappy away in. Why is there NO GUILT at using horrible chemical wipes instead of a cloth and water. A cloth and water works fine, is free, and is better for baby's bum, too!

Rant over. It really just makes me sad to think about the irresponsible, irreparable waste of it all.

Rant over. I don't care what you all say, I just want someone out there to read this and think about how they can change their ways a little bit.

If you don't care what we all say why should we care what you say?

Why is there NO GUILT at trying to pile MORE GUILT on people who probably already have LOTS OF GUILT in their lives?

But I do have a large stash of ultra-eco-friendly cloth reusables awaiting my newborn, and intend to use them. However if she keeps me awake all night for six months like the last DC, they'll probably end up in landfill and I'll be back to the Pampers.

yeah I knew I would get that response about how parents already have lots of guilt in their lives and shouldn't have to worry about the environment as well. Meh. I don't think being busy gives an automatic ticket to pollute. Especially when there are alternatives.

(Wooo hooo! Well done for your choice to use reuseables. Not that I am the waste police or anything. God knows I throw stuff away too).

Yanbu. Well put. Being busy shouldn't be a get out clause.

Actually I think the nappy sacks are biodegradable aren't they? (well, not el cheapo ones obviously)

YANBU. I did part-time EC but used disposables as well so am somewhat precariously balanced on the actual fence itself with this subject.

Goodness, yes, the waste.. all that cloth being used in your wipes and nappies, the nasty chemicals when you wash them, and the energy to heat the water, when you should be ECing..

Being busy shouldn't be a get out clause.

Sorry, we all have things we do which are better than worse for the environment, and you are being unreasonable to pick one thing to be holier than thou and beat people over.

No one's perfect.

I use washable pads (mooncups make me feel violated).

Predominent vegetarian.

But then I forget my big shopping bags every time I go shopping, without fail, and end up with plastic.

Oh and I have to go into town to recycle glass, it builds up, I have a kitchen full of clinking and occasionally falling off the windowsill and smashing glass, and I end up throwing it in the bin in a temper.

You are possiby being a bit unreasonable.

Presominently vegetarian that should be. Sounded like dominant vegetarian (that's dh lol)

oh good another aren't i better by using useable nappies! just think of all the extra electricty you are using to wash them and all the valueable water if you hand wash the nappies. we all pollute the enviroment by using nappies but just in different ways

I did disposables.

I just couldn't face the washing.

I used disposables, right up until DD was potty trained aged 2 and a half. No guilt whatsoever. I'll be doing the same again with the baby I'm due to have in the summer... Nope. Still no guilt

Do you feel guilty about the increased carbon footprint as a result of washing all those re-usable nappies?

OP you have a reasonably good point. The problem is with your way of tackling it, you are not going to have many followers. Do you not use chemicals BTW to clean those reusable nappies? how good ae they for the environment? Or do you use one of those companies who washes and redelivers to you in a lorry so someone eklse will be guity of carbon footing instead of you?

I hope that's organic rainwater...

Surely the carbon footprint of the processes used in manufacturing disposable nappies (and their component parts) would far outweigh the carbon footprint of the detergent etc., used in washing cloth ones? So that argument's a bit crap.

I'm kind of with the OP on the waste... Think about all those nappies all over the world and I start to feel very, very uncomfortable about the whole thing. But I completely understand, too, why people think the alternatives are a bit yuck. Someone needs to invent a disposable nappy with a much smaller environmental footprint and then we'd all be happy.

Incidentally my DD doesn't use nappies at all ...but then she is 14.

Do you drive, OP?

Some people are so bloody worthy. Maybe stop sticking your beak into other people's rubbish bins? How else do you know what they're throwing. Or do you follow them round? Or are you making assumptions based on an hour at tumble tots? Fgs.

I think the govt probably LOVE it when people have a go at each other about these things. It detracts attention from the fact they let corporations get away with much bigger environmental sins.

I have to admit I used to be a bit sanctimonious about using cloth, too. Then 2 kids close together + PND + house move + full-time work forced me back to disposables and I got a lot less judgey!

I don't often drive, no. Mostly because I live in a city where everything's five minutes walk away. But I do drive sometimes and I'm guilty of all sorts of other environmental crimes like overseas travel. I don't go out of my way to take the bus in order to save the environment, maybe I should.

I don't have a high horse really, honest, I'm a sinner like everyone else. I just get a bit upset at the throwaway waste that comes along with parenthood because it seems so senseless. Reuseable nappies are so easy to use. Certainly using a cloth and water instead of a chemical wipe is an easy change, isn't it?

I'm also very cynical, by the way, about the common advice about delaying potty training till a kid is two years old. The only people benefitting from that little gem are the producers of disposable diapers. Funny how kids in early generations were out of nappies and onto the potty WAY earlier than two without any problems. Just sayin'.

Water is a chemical.
Just sayin'.

Hmm I don't know. In previous generations it was not the child being able to control it, it was the parent always reminding them, sitting them on the potty etc. The phrase 'potty training' apparently originally referred to the parent being trained, not the child!

We used washables and sunk a lot of money into it (wish I'd known about second hand ones!) but they never worked at night as DD was a good sleeper. It may just be the brand I'd chosen, but you'd spend ten minutes each time getting the cover to fit over the nappy completely and then the damn thing would leak anyway! We tried using them with our second but it was just too much. Including the higher temperature washing, and drying (no space to air dry) and washing leaked-on clothes, I don't think we did much good using them. I'm selling our nappies, as even if we do have dc3 I know I won't use them. :(

Another smug parenting thread

Actually, I read a life cycle analysis once which claimed reusable happiest were only better for the environment if they were hand me downs and always washed in a cold wash. Food for thought

Usualsuspect I suppose it is. I am a bit of a smug mummy about this one.

Freudian it all comes down to what brand you use; some brands are leaky and are a waste of time. I use Honey Childs which are awesome. No leaks. You wash them in a cold wash and they dry very quickly so there's no need for a dryer.

I bought re-useables. Realised I would have no where to dry them (can't even get clothes dry very fast in my tiny house without having the heating on 24/7) then sold them. I was hardly washing myself when I had my first dc, let alone adding nappies to my to-do list.