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.

i think i did cloth on the cheap, and was probably in profit from about month 4 of DD1 - it was a great summer though, perfect for line drying nappies.

things like 'coolababy' are particularly easy to wash and dry, and rather cheap too. I am saving money (which is what i care about) although DD1 also had very bad rash from using disposables even once or twice.

the teachers at the school i worked at in Taiwan were shocked when a 20monther came in in nappies still...'readiness' is very much a cultural concept and what it means varies greatly by region and time.

Just think - back in the days before cloth everyone did EC from birth, and cultures that do that currently reckon their child 'trained' by 3-4mo. By that standard, probably everyone on here is slacking off...

Well the sums depend - there's cloth nappying and cloth nappying. If you buy a couple of dozen bumgenius or other really expensive all in one and use expensive brand wipes, boil, tumble and iron etc then it's gonna cost a lot more than cheap terries/donated disposables.

this might be slightly off the topic, but I'm always baffled by the idea of 'saving the planet' by having no children. What exactly would be the point of saving the planet if there were to be no future generations? Saving it for who exactly?

You'd think they were talking about cloth nappy usage of 50 years ago! ... you know, back in the days of soaking the terries in bleach and/or boiling them! lol

Cloth nappy users of today (at least the majority of them) don't soak their nappies in harsh chemicals - and to be honest, most of us don't even soak our nappies at all (for those who are concerned about water usage). And then when it comes to actually washing them, I'd say the detergents used are more gentle than what most use for clothes - with some even opting for "soap nuts" - can't get more green than that! :o AND as for energy usage, rather than boil washing the nappies, it seems most are washing their nappies at 40 degrees - some even at 30!

So to be honest, this is all a lot of rubbish, IMHO!

My Bangladeshi immigrant neighbours (living in England) thought cheap disposable nappies were a Godsend. They came from a society where EC was still the norm, and yet felt they were privileged to not have to do it.

also, I think the argument about water use being a terrible evil must surely depend on where you live. e.g. I live somewhere that it rains pretty much all year round, water is not in short supply and is unlikely ever to be in short supply. As it happens, I don't wantonly waste water just for the sake of it because I don't like waste in general, but no matter what any environmentalist says, me cutting down on my water use will not make any difference to areas of drought. I am however understanding of the fact that if you live somewhere hot and dry, then water is a much more precious resource.

But where I live, viable space for ever increasing landfill is much more of an environmental problem than water usage.....

completley agree snoozle doozle
but a lot of the water usage in the report was to do with manufacturing the cotton
(of course not all cloth nappies are made of cotton, bamboo is much more environmentally friendly to make, and fleece is made from rubbish recycled plastic)

Haven't read anything except the OP but I've never seen the point of washable nappies to be anything other than driving parents to even more distraction. Environmental benefits: debatable. Cost benefits: outweighed by convenience of disposables. So shoot me.

to be fair AKMD if you havent read the report then how would you know the environmental implications?
and if you havent used them, how would you know how "inconvieniant" they are?

So putting sealed pooy nappies in a sealed bin is unhygenic but not soaking pooy/urine nappies and washing at 30 with other clothes and soap nuts is ?

They are much much greener (which is obvious if you think about it for more than 5 minutes)

the report was a complete bag of shite - how hard were they looking for things they could possibly add on to make cloth nappies worse - ironing nappies anyone - report smacked of trying to undermine cloth using - pity it's worked in some quarters. As for cotton manufacture - totally ignoring the use of secondhand nappies, which all of mine are - fourth hand in many cases :)

Cloth nappies save you tons of money, especially if you have more than one child and keep hold of them and then SELL THEM ON once you've finished. And they're no more inconvenient than any of the million other little new routines you put into practice when you have a baby, then get completely used to and it's no hassle at all.

Milamae

when looking after babies (who use disposables) many of their clothes / bedding get covered in wee & poo, and [shock horror] these clothes go in the washing machine , and get WASHED (with other clothes) and come out CLEAN.... how is washing a pooey vest different from washing a cloth nappy (which people normally line,) so most of the poo has gone down the toilet anyway?

and as for soap nuts.... you just need to think about it..... soap is a natural product..... the detergent companies extract the soap, add enzymes, mix with chemical and fragrances, and other nasty stuff.... so why not use the soap straight from the source?

In my experience cloth nappies leak less than disposable, so have less poo and wee soaked clothes to wash anyway..... and most people i know wash nappies separately ....
but regardless of weather they do or dont, most washing machines clean things so they are clean at the end anyway (using lots of water) and the main componant of wee IS water!

People who use washables certainly dont go around with smelly or dirty or germy clothes as a result of washing nappies in a washing machine

I found cloth leaked more on my children.

I raised this question because of several comments saying disposables weren't hygenic.

Sorry but when washing poo(wherever it is) I'd be doing it at 60 and not with other clothes.I'd also be periodically putting a boil wash through my washing machine to kill bacteria. Non poo/wee of course 40 or 30.

I think a little more honesty is needed on this subject.

Nannyl, I haven't looked at that particular report but I did do some research into reusable nappies while I was pregnant and decided that their green credentials were overrated at best. I know they are inconvenient because a good friend uses them for financial reasons and hates them so much that our circle of friends seriously considered giving her bumper packs of disposables for Christmas.

I honestly cannot understand the inconvenient argument.

nappies are nappies are nappies - they need changing. sometimes every 2 minutes, sometimes every 2 hours. but they need doing.

so, you change the nappy.

you then (maybe) tip poo into the toilet (and I have to say I would have done this anyway, even if using disposables, as don't like the thought of all that poo in landfil, rather than down the loo where it belongs, to be dealt with in the appropriate way). and then put the nanpy in the bin, or in a bucket.

yes, clth means you need to put them in the washing machine every so often. but disposables mean you need to take them out to the bin every so often.

you need to hang them out once washed. but you don't need ot remember to buy htem, or carry them home.

each way has its own "inconvenience", surely?

From my own experiances here in Australia most people using washable nappies here wash on cold as cold machines are still fairly predominent. I have spent about 300 australian dollars on washable nappies for my yet to be born baby. Thats a variety of styles and sizes that should see me through. people tend not to tumble dry because of it damaging the pul ditto ironing. Also most people seem to scrape the crap off and then dry pail so no soaking either. This is baby 5 for me and my reasons are not environmental (thats a bonus) but purely based on how cute cloth nappies are.

AKMD..... I have read the entire report, cover to cover, and gave my very very long analysis to it earlier up in the thread.
it IS majorly flawed.

I have been changing nappies (nannying) for over 10 years, and have used pretty much every brand of washable and disposable nappy on numerous children.
Cloth are my favorite by far (although there are some cloth nappies that i HATE (cotton bottom,s bambino mio, kushies and boots all in one (ie the easist to get hold of!!!!!) The (good) cloth nappies have leaked far less than disposables i have used, everything from moltex / pampers / huggies / boots / aldi / own brands etc
Will be using cloth on my own children (1st due in 17 weeks time ) and having tried and tested so so so many, over years of daily use i KNOW that they are no more difficult than disposables, and so much easier..... I wont run out, or need to get to a shop, ever. (while nannying i have also washed the buckets of used cloth nappies... its really not that hard / time consuming!)
All of mine (bar some free samples direct from cloth nappy companies that have aquired over time) are 2nd hand, having been used by my friends child(ren) so my baby will be the 2nd / 3rd + child to use them, and so will my next children.

I had a large cloth nappy stash before i was even pregnant lol!

Mila washing at 60 kills bacteria. I would have thought that washing at 90 would kill nappies.

AKMD I started with terry Tots Bots because that was all my local council offered at the time, and yes, I pretty much hated them. Then I tried a few different kinds and now use BumGenius, which I love

I know a 4 year old without SN who is in nappies, and it looks as if he will start school in nappies. In pants, he just wets and soils anyway, so school probably prefer him in a nappy , to at least catch it.
Yes, it is laziness in his case.
I didn't know it was becoming common though.

mila can I just make sure I've got this right? Did you use a whole box of ecover a week just on nappy washing and no other washing? And are you sure that box of ecover cost the same as the disposables you would have got through in the same period of time? Because I'm struggling to see how that adds up. A smallish box of powder (we don't use ecover but another low-impact non-bio that's not even that cost effective because you can only get it in said small boxes) lasts us at least a week, often 2, and that's for all our washing including the nappies. That's way, way cheaper than disposables. Not even close.

and nappies should only be washed with 1/4 (or 1/2 at the very most) of what the detergent manufacturers recommend....

so one does of detergent should do 3 - 4 loads of nappies, so 1 weeks to 2 weeks of nappies on 1 normal dose (depending on how often you wash them)

I wash mine at 40 with a half dose of eco detergent and a few drops of lavender oil. They dry in the garden or conservatory, on the radiator if its wintry and grey. There is no need for all the stuff the study takes into account.