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.

You really have opened my eyes 8|

From now on i won't throw another "Chemical filled" baby wipe in the bin.

All this time there is a perfectly good toilet i can use, sitting right there!!!!

Everything you ever do has an adverse environmental impact; it's just a trade off between one impact or another.

If you really look at washing powders there are all kinds of chemicals in them that are no good for the water or the land and have to be treated at a treatment plant.

Landfills are being phased out anyway because of the Landfill Directive and the prohibitive costs - and more specifically, the strict landfill targets that local authorities have to meet.

There is no alternative to landfill for at least some of the residual waste. There are better technologies for the treatment of waste though - incineration with energy recovery. Disposable nappies have a high caloric value because of the plastic so would be very useful for feedstock.

So OP, perhaps when you ask why nobody cares, think of all the NIMBYs (not in my back yard) you know and ask them why they steadfastly refuse to consider a technology that is widely used in Europe with great success.

We only have one black bag of rubbish in our house each week for a family of 4. The rest is recycled, our recycle bin is always full and we have a compost bin.

We repair clothes that get holes in them or give give clothes that are too small to charity and re-use our bags when we go shopping. We also avoid things that have too much packaging on.

I was quite suprised how green we are when i thought about it but we do you disposable nappies and wipes so i guess that makes us very bad people who don't care about the environment!

I will line up with the rest so you can shoot us all in one fowl swoop.

I'm a cloth nappy user and I find them VERY effective!

It's easy to change reusables when out and about, so no excuses there. I use cloth wipes and a spray bottle full of water/chamomile tea, then put the dirties in a wet bag.

This guff about reusables having a bigger impact on the environment than disposables is utter BS! FAR more water & chemicals used in the manufacture of disposables.

I agree that the OP is a bit full on and I don't preach to others normally, but I am surprised at how few people use cloth. I am the ONLY person I know who is doing it.

Believe it or not, cloth napppies ain't half as smelly as Pampers.

I don't expect anyone to be converted by this thread though!

I do care. However I can't cope with the extra washing reueable nappies make. I do however use reuseable wipes.

Unfortunately we are being told to be eco friendly but apart from the rubbish recycling which I do almost religously as it is not difficult, reusable sanitary procucts and the like are not practical for me.

I am investing in reusable nappies and wipes, as well as other eco friendly products for my baby but I can do this because I will be at home for a year and not working or having other commitments. Even then, with the first few months I know it will be very difficult to stick to until we have a good routine and I can get a little sleep.

Also, until the last few years, we grew up in a consumerist society where hardly any emphasis was put on recycling. Research into the damage being done to our planet has been going on for decades, yet governments were not interested as it did not benefit them to care, so generations went uneducated about the detrimental effects of thier lifestyle. It would be hard to change for many. Some people even deny there is a problem at all and our lifestyles do make it hard; I am all for it though.

GMajor7, I disagree with you. From manufacture through to disposal, re-usable nappies aren't as environmentally friendly as you seem to think they are - and disposable nappies typically make up less than 1% of landfill. There are far bigger environmental issues out there.

Lying Iwas referring to people who try to argue that reusables are more damaging to the environment that disposables. Just not true.

We do as much as we can with recycling, mending and reusing things where we can.

But the thought of me soaking and washing nappies on top of everything in the last year since dd was born............oh my goodness, excuse me while I just kill myself laughing.

And reusable wipes............ok, stop now, I need oxygen!

You don't soak them felicity, just chuck 'em in a mesh lined bucket with a couple of drops of tea tree oil! Then bung in the machine!

Re usable nappies do have an environmental impact with all the washing they cause. Babies arses are just not environmentally friendly.

I recycle as much as I can but I will be using disposable nappies.

I tried reusables with DC2 and he got dreadful nappy rash. put him in disposables, nappy rash got better, switched back to reusables = nappy rash reappeared.

the amount of space that disposable nappies take up in landfill is negligable compared to the amount of food waste and recyclables that people throw in the normal rubbish over a lifetime.

I don't care to be honest, I really don't. We don't live in the 1940's any more. Some genius invented disposable nappies and wipes to make our lives easier and so we're not chained to the bloody kitchen all day! Sorry, but there are far more important things to worry about.

I simply don't have the time to use reuseable nappies. DS was in nursery from 3 months old and I did ask about him being in them and they said, yes, we'll use them for you and then give you a bag full of dirty ones at the end of each day. Bearing in mind I get home from work at gone 7pm most nights I simply could not (and maybe I should?) bear the thought of a bag of 5 or 6 dirty baby nappies to soak and wash every day and remember to take another clean half dozen in to nursery the next day on top of all the household cleaning and chores to fit in every night. Nursery supply disposables as part of the fees too so there would have been an extra cost as well). As it is we do only 2/3 clothes washes a week and never tumble dry - I can imagine a nappy wash a day would add greatly to that. I think I'll have to be lined up and shot too. I also pick up all my cat's poo from the garden in nappy bags and put it in the bin. I suspect that's even worse.

YANBU with the sentiment, but there are lots of things to care about and do "right" and it is near impossible to do everything. So really I have to say (gently) that I think YABU.

When my ds2 was born I priced up a nappy laundering service and it was going to be twice the cost of disposables

I looked into buying reusables, but they were a ridiculous price - £45 for two or something, which considering how many you get through and the different sizes you would need to keep buying, was ridiculous. there was no way I was going to use Terry nappies because of the workload and mess.

I just used disposables as I couldn't afford the alternatives. I didn't feel particularly guilty, it was just economics and that comes first if you're not well off.

chuck 'em in a mesh lined bucket with a couple of drops of tea tree oil! Then bung in the machine!

I'd have to have bought a lot of buckets, to fit them in until I had chance to wash them!!

I take my hat off to you who can manage this but frankly if i had a spare 5 mins in the early days I'd have a cup of tea or call a friend - sane mummy comes before green mummy!!

I used disposables, and refuse to feel remotely guilty about it.

Anyway, there is a landfill sit a few miles away from where I live, it's full now and has been turned into a lovely park. It's big, has a childrens playground, what's not to like?

By the fact you put that you are 'no greeny hippy' you are saying that you are wasteful in other ways. Maybe you have a car? Take holidays by plane? use disposable sanitary towels? etc
In which case you may well be considered a hypocrite...
Pat yourself on the back for using re-usable nappies. Well done to you.
All that extra detergent in the water supply. Well done to you

Re early potty training lockets...I think this was more successfully done in the days when it was all nuclear families & everyone was a SAHM until the kids went to school, so basically the mums had a lot more time to do it, probably lived closer to family for support, had the incentive of no longer needing to use cumbersome terry nappies with all the washing & lack of tumble driers & of course less advertising pressure. Also less stuff for kids to go to (no baby gym classes, no toddler music sessions) & mum less likely to have a car so they just stayed at home & got through the days.

In even earlier times, early 20th century & prior, tying infants onto a potty receptacle for long periods of time was practised, which is tantamount to abuse by current standards (rightly so).

Now it would be much more likely to work if there is a committed stay at home parent who doesn't mind being thought of as a freak for trying something different beyond what the product-pushers tell us, which can be quite isolating in mums' groups etc & even contradictory to HV/drs one-size-fits-all advice, family members' advice & experience, etc The other option is EC, which can be practiced from full on hardcore to casual part-time but again is likely to have better results with a stay at home parent.