To be surprised that washable nappies aren't that green - and haven't been for years?

[ScaredyDog]

Here

Yes it's the Daily Fail, but according to the article the green credentials of washable nappies were discounted by the Environment Agency in 2007.

Apparently there is "no significant difference between the environmental impacts of disposable, home use reusable and commercial laundry systems."

I'll be honest - it's always puzzled me how washable nappies could be considered to be friendlier to the environment because of the use of washing machines and chemicals to clean them.

Nothing wrong with terries, octopus :). In fact, they were with my top choices.

I love terries too :). In fact octopus some of my terries are over 50 years old and still going strong!

Another terries fan here. I tried all-in-ones and they used to leak but DS can go all night in a terry and they are sooo cheap. I also don't boil wash or tumble dry (I might if I had a drier) but I certainly wouldn't iron them - I don't iron my knickers!

Thank you to everyone who has taken the trouble to reply to my questions! I've got a few websites to look at now, and may drift over to the dreaded netmums to see if anyone has any second handers for sale (none listed on my local sit here )

i chose to use cloth for cost and landfill reasons.

i also wash at 40degrees with occasional 60 wash.
don't tumble dry as it shrinks them and destroys the elastic, imo.
definitely don't iron them!

and i have passed the old smaller sized ones on to my sister to use and will do the same with the larger size when dd grows out of them. and when my sister is finished with them i will suggest donating them to an african orphanage charity i know about.

I have met the odd person who tumble dries them but I have never ever come across anyone who irons them.
Has anyone else?

Hmmm having used washables when I had my twins I know costwise there was nothing in it(I never used a tumble dryer).This was 7 years ago and baring in mind the huge hike in energy prices that will increase more,the extra cost of Ecover(which also is now more expensive),the cost of water if you're on a meter I'm pretty sure things won't have changed.

Makes me laugh mums trying to persuade themselves they're doing something green by using washables. The only truely green option is to have no more than one child,get that child out of nappies asap and use a laundering service so energy isn't wasted on millions of washing machines going round in millions of homes.

I'm another cloth nappy fanatic.

My reasons for using them were less to do with the environment, and more to do with the cost and the fact that I was repulsed by the chemicals in disposables, and by the thought of a poo filled nappy lying in the bottom of my bin for a fortnight whilst waiting for the bin to be emptied.

I've been berated on other chat forums for saying I used cloth nappies, by people who have claimed they are unhygienic, but ironically, I find the idea of disposables unhygienic - you wouldn't poo and pee in your bin (I hope!) because that's what the toilet is for, but for some reason we are encouraged to believe that its preferable to let a baby poo into a few sheets of paper filled with crystals and then throw the whole lot into landfill.

Having said that, although I am the most enthusiastic user of cloth, I did use disposables on some occasions e.g. holidays, as it was just more practical.

I'm aware that makes me a hypocrite

Pinkismyfavoritecrayon - if you go on to natural mamas, they have a whole for sale or trade section for washable second hand nappies.

I do a combination of washable and disposable - am another hater of poo going in to bins and landfills. Poo gets put down the toilet wether it was done in disposable or a washable. And I have enough nappies to only do one wash per week. So how is that not green?

I used Nature Boy and Moltex(which you can compost)in the end.Our council doesn't put nappies in landfill it has collection service and then burns them.

Environmentally sorry but I fail to see how there is anything in it. There is a shortage of energy. Costwise the cost of 1 washing machine cycle is rocketing and will continue to do so.I hate the chemicals and fragrances in washing powders so it's always been Ecover for us which is very expensive.

Seriously if you want to save the planet don't have kids. If you do have kids be honest and acknowledge the damage they cause instead of pretending that endless washing machine loads and detergent somehow makes you green-it doesn't.

Milamae did you buy the all singing/dancing nappies and boilwash them or something because I have never heard anyone say that disposables were cheaper. I spent about 30 quid on a dozen terries, fleece liners and plastic pants and a lidded bin for soaking and the only expense I've had since then is detergent and washing (mostly at 40 degrees). Given that some people get given reusables for free and use them for several kids I can't see how disposables could be cheaper.

I don't think that anyone is suggesting that using reusable nappies completely negates their childs carbon footprint. People are saying that reusables are better for the environment than disposables. I am prepared to use reusable nappies to lessen the effect on the environment - I wasn't prepared to remain childless.

Believe me they were.

I needed a lot as didn't have a tumble dryer(an empty nappy drawer with a poo up the back was not going to be an option).I borrowed said nappies and my washing machine was on a lot (clothes as well due to leaks). A box of Ecover alone is as much as a pack of nappies let alone the machine cycles,nappy soak,nappy cream(because my lot got nappy rash more when not in washables),liners,extra wipes because they absorb less etc. A machine cycle must be at least 50p a go and I had it on daily. Sorry you can split hairs but costwise there is buggar all in it,I actually saved with twins(obviously most don't have twins).

There is a serious energy problem,it's going to keep rising so costwise and environmentally there is nothing to be smug about using washables.

sorry "when not in disposables"

What about reusable wipes?

I LOVE my reusable wipes. My only sadness is that it took me DC5 before I discovered them

I used cotton wool and water for DC1 because wipes were still quite new and v.expensive then.

Its almost worth having another baby just to get more use out of my cheekywipes

I disagree if you tot up washing machine loads which are around 50p a load at 40,maybe more will definitely rise. A box of Ecover is £5 which you'd use weekly,I used a pack of nappies a week.The nappy cost and Ecover cost is the same let alone totting up energy costs, extra cream etc.

Well surely with twins you would need double of either type of nappy. I found that with the fleece liners DS has had no more nappy rash as they wick the moisture away from the skin. I only clean him with water as well which helps as wipes tend to irritate. If you are buying wipes and disposable liners then that will be why you found it expensive.
Only got the one toddler in nappies now and I have the washer on every other day. The wet ones will get bunged in with whatever other clothes need washing. The pooey ones I will soak. So if you say it's around 50p a wash that's £1.75 a week plus about 50p worth of detergent (I always use less than they say). Show me where I can buy a weeks worth of nappies and wipes for £2.25 and I might switch.

"Approximately eight billion nappies enter the waste stream every year in the UK, and most end up in landfill sites where parts of each nappy will take 200 years or more to decompose."

That's a lot of nappies every year.
Each baby will use an average of between 4,000 and 6,000 nappies from birth to potty. So even if you use cloth part-time for every nappy change not using a disposable that's one more not going to landfill.

Even if your council burns them and they don't go to landfill, the burning of them will contribute to air pollution.

I do agree milamae that "if you want to save the planet don't have kids." but for most that's a bit extreme and there's no harm in trying to limit damage other ways.

Not twins but at one point I had 3 in nappies at night and 2 in nappies during the day. I found it a lot less expensive than disposables. Terries were my workhorse nappies. Easy to clean, quick to dry. I can't remember now how many washes I did but it wasn't every day.
I didn't use ecover - soda crystals and vinegar (sometimes lavendar) seemed to do the trick quite nicely.

According to ethicalconsumer.org it costs taxpayers £67m a year to dispose of the 8 million disposable nappies a day which are thrown away in the UK, that's 3 billion a year, and of which 90% end up in landfill. It works out at 400,000 tonnes of nappy waste a year - the same as is produced by a city the size of Birmingham.Other research shows that for every £1 spent on disposables it costs the taxpayer 10p to deal with them.

Ethical consumer also re-did the "how much do you save with cloth?" exercise last year to take into account rising energy costs. They now say at least £678 and tbh you can do it much cheaper with terrys, prefolds and preloveds.

Yes energy costs are going up, but so is the cost of oil. 1 cup of oil in each sposie. Recent reports from the USA show the big nappy retailers warning their prices will also be rising.

As many have said the report is cack and is widley discredited, but there seems to still be freelance journalist linked to the Taxpayers Alliance who keeps writing quoting the old one. And todays lazy journalism means most papers dont bother verifying the facts before the quote it

50p of detergent,come on and I have the machine on every day without nappies to wash.A newborn will get through loads and you'll need to buy loads unless you want to run out.

Also whatever you're using instead of wipes will need to be bought/washed.Nappy soak,start up costs etc. Lucky old you that your dc didn't get nappy rash.I know hoards of mums with babies who got nappy rash more with disposables. You need to change them far more frequently too if this is the case.

I think you're being a little creative with your sums.

I'm presuming people don't tumble and always use Ecover too.

Plus Aquados Simply eco range is on special offer at most supermarkets at the moment. 30 tabs for £2.00. As you should only use half the amount of powder you would normally use, and I wash nappies three times a week (dry pailing in between) then these last me 10 weeks for nappies. I've stockpiled