To not understand common attitudes to disposable personal hygiene products?

[hooochycoo]

I'm confronted by this again and again on MN, and I confess I don't understand why it's OK to justify using disposable nappies, wet wipes, sanitary protection etc? Why is it OK to add so much rubbish to the world on the justification of convenience when there are alternatives that are still easy but generate less or no waste? Use a flannel, use a moon up, put/hold your baby regularly over a toilet/ potty, use modern easy quick drying cloth nappies. Why's it OK to recoil in horror at the hippyness of such things? But it's ok to continue buying disposable rubbish from huge corporations and throw them into landfill? Apart from an argument of "each to their own", aibu to not get it?

Do you use a compost toilet or have you got one of those really convenient flushing ones that takes your waste away so someone else can deal with it?

Amber I think the reasoning is that convenience is only a valid argument when it's the OP's convenience

Looks like it MurderOfGoths

I used reusable nappies with DD, and will with bump, used cloth san pro before I was pregnant, and have been known to use cloth wipes for myself instead of loo roll if I forget to buy it and it's a tight week.

But I don't care what the rest of you do, or why you do it. It's not a competition.

"People" in general don't know much about reusable alternatives, and some that do have their own reasons for choosing disposable (was going to use "good reasons" but who am I to judge what is a good reason?) and I don't care.

Overall, one cannot be deemed to be better than the other. For a start, no-one really knows, by the time you've taken everything into account.

The convenience argument is funny to me, because convenience is exactly the reason I used cloth nappies. Trying to organise a newborn to leave the house, whilst hoping she didn't shit in the last nappy, so I could go and buy nappies was a nightmare. But that's just my experience.

So yeah, I don't give a shit what any of the rest of you do :D (no pun intended!)

Surely having two children and trying to mitigate that selfish decision and its collosal carbon footprint with cloth nappies, mooncups and recycled toilet paper borders on the absurd?

I tried 3 brands of reusable nappies and they all leaked.

I guess you can try and mitigate and minimise it a little bit, little. It's not compulsory to accept total defeat. Little actions and so on.

People get defensive when they perceive they're bring preached at, as I told the op on the first page. These threads never go well.

You may have a point mslazybones! And that's all very interesting lolly, thank you. I shall think on. I have found motherhood and the assiciated housewifery very difficult at points. there have been times when i've felt pretty desperate, so I can empathise.

Can you point me at any reading material?

Nice to hear of others that consider reusable stuff not a burden. Thanks for different perspectives.

Like I said, I use recycled loo roll, but prefer a wash. If I'm out and about I generally flog myself with my knitting rather than use suspect possibly unrecycled toilet roll .

Cheers Hester. Told!

Sure Hester, a bit like turning up to your own personal tsunami with a dustpan and brush.

(I don't have any moral high ground here, I'm expecting number 3. My use of a mooncup isn't going to touch the sides environmentally)

Yuck to reusable sanpro and nappies.
The hell of washing them and the smell, give me the convenience any day though I'm too old for either.
Britain can never make an environmental impact as long as the huge third world countries continue to pollute the atmosphere with their up and coming industry, for which you can hardly blame them as we did the same thing to create our wealth.
And you are very smug and very rude OP.

my child is recycled - do I win?

And lolly, I'm not just focusing on this in life in general, this is just a little thread on a message board I started to pass some time. I'm aware there's a bigger picture. Am grateful
For your perspective tho. And Personally I think for those it works for the mooncup is liberation from the "curse".

Kewcumber, you win! You get to use paper plates and plastic cups with wild abandon.

I thought about explaining to you why I do what I do re sanpro and nappies.

Then I read the thread and realised you don't really want to understand. You just want to feel superior to everyone who doesn't do what you do, because in your eyes they are lazy ignorant types who don't give a shit about the environment. So I decided not to explain what I do and why.

As a few people have pointed out - if you want to change people's minds, coming across as inflexible, judgemental and narrow-minded isn't really going to help.

To answer your question, yes YABU - it's not hard to understand why people use disposable products. I think your REAL question is "AIBU to believe that everyone should share my personal views on personal hygiene products", to which the answer is also YABU.

I know that. Of course I know that. But in thirty years, when everything's fucked even more than it is now, and children are saying "Why didn't you DO something, you bastards?" at least you could say "Well, I tried a bit," rather than saying "Sorry my love, I couldn't be arsed."

And I'm not going to say any more. Someone will call beca smug hypocritical twat or something, even thoughI'm not :o

Me not beca.

I have no idea who or what beca is.

can I recycle my dh into David Beckham.

But why do you use recycled loo roll instead of cloths?

Recycled loo roll is still a disposable product.

Why not use cloths all the time?

I should say my only child is recycled before MrsDV muscles in on my act.

Having brand new children is shocking, pre-owned is the way to go. Unless of course you're just... you know.... selfish.

thanks lazybones - in fact I burn plastic cutlery just for fun without even using ti and still probably have a smaller carbon footprint than OP.

Mind you DS was recycled from another country so I had to fly would have been better if I could have rowed there. but landlocked country so no choice.

I use disposables and drive because my life is hard enough and i'm usually crying from tiredness at the end of the day. I do however use a mooncup because I find it note comfortable, less icky and cheaper than disposables but I get that not everyone lies them.

Anything I do would be wiped out by dh travelling hundreds of miles by car for work.

I will be able to say 'I tried a bit' but it won't be because I've changed my disposable sanpro to washable.

I haven't read it all, but expect others have already made the points that:

-Washing anything also uses power, you can't recycle that.
-People have conditions, medical or otherwise that prevents the use of Mooncups, I can't use them, I can't use tampons either, everyone is different in this respect, in addition to that sometimes it just is not convenient.
-Most things come in packaging, you can recycle that depending on where you live, I have a great system where I live but my mum doesn't where she lives.

I think you should consider why people don't or can't as well, and it is not always down to choice.

I have enough washing now so definitely don't want to add to it with using washable pads etc and I didn't know what a mooncup was so I googled it. I know it's each to their own but I can't say that I am eager to ty one. I think they sound awful and quite messy and unhygienic so sorry environment, its tampons for me!