To think reusable nappies don't actually sace any money?

[hibbleddible]

I've started on reusable nappies as I was horrified by the amount of landfill my baby was generating!

The nappies only last half as long as reusables though, and when the cost of disposable liners is factored in (3.5p each), along with electricity, water and detergent go wash them, it doesn't work out cheaper than disposables (7.8p each from Aldi). This is not considering the initial outlay.

I will continue using them for environmental reasons, but aibu to think they aren't any cheaper? Or am I missing something?

Bree what do you mean you don't have to clean the whole nappy? Even if it is just wet I put the reusable in the wash every change.

hedgehog the reusables are only last 2-3 hours. I don't know whether I should put 2 of the absorbent cores in. (We are using little bloom nappies, I'm quite happy with then overall)

Bree, some of mine have gone through 6+ children.

I got some second hand ones, used on all 3 of mine, and my SIL used them for her 2 as well (I have a large gap between dc2&3). The ones which fared the best were the Motherease ones - not particularly pretty, but do the job, and virtually bomb proof. I did have to buy new wraps/covers, but not a full set for each child, just the odd one here and there.

I think the main benefit of reuseables is reducing landfill and the notion of saving money or the environment is extremely limited for anyone living in my neck of the woods or in the UK. The environmental and cost savings are not significant and from what I calculated are only applicable if you don't have a job to go to so can spend time doing household chores, buy 2nd hand reuseables and have the space to line dry everything.

As it is, we don't have a landfill issue here. Our trash is burned off and used to power the steam in Manhattan. We pay about 21c (about 14p) per diaper (we use pampers) and I spend about $5 a month on a good barrier cream. Given the cost of my time, water and electricity plus resusables I just don't see how, even after 3 DC, it is cheaper. Additionally, none of the daycares allow them so any potential savings are extremely limited. I would be shocked if there are childcare places in the UK that accept parents supplying them with reuseables instead of disposables.

Want - that is an invalid argument. We both work full time (50-60 hrs each). A washing machine cleans them we aren't in the Victoria era scrubbing by hand. In the UK virtually all nurseries or childminders accept reusables

Want2be, we went to see 3 nurseries for DS and none of them batted an eyelid at using reusables. I reckon it takes a total of 10-15 minutes of my time per wash (which we do every other day) to put them in, put on a clip hanging frame in airing cupboard and then put together ready for use. Wipes and non-pooey paper liners go in the pail and are washed with the rest. We don't need cream as they keep him nice and dry. There was a study that was funded by the disposable manufacturers that found that they weren't much better environmentally, but they really stacked the deck in their favour by assuming a wash at 90 and tumble drying afterwards, (we wash at 30 with sanitiser and a cold rinse beforehand).

Defea commisioned a study about 10 years ago on the environmental impacts of both cloth and disposable nappies. Each had its own impacts.

I used disposables because I have visited landfill sites for work and I can see that when you throw something away, there is no away. My local authority incinerates a lot of waste, I hate to think of the impact on air quality from disposables, but then there is the impact on water quality from washing cloth nappies. I do believe though that the western world manufactures too much, and one thing that is unnecessary to manufacture is disposable nappies.,

hibble clean the poo off before putting in the pail... By scraping/spraying, as we've been discussing.

We've saved a fortune with reusables. I got most of mine second-hand, and I use home-made fleece liners (cheap bit of fleece fabric cut up) and home-made wipes.

They've done two children, and we've got another one on the way, so that will be 6+ years of disposables we didn't have to buy.

With DS1 and 2, I washed every third day and dried them on a heated drying rack. If you use the two-part nappies with removable inserts you can dry them quite quickly.

Environment Agency report on the whole life impact of cloth and disposable nappies.

The conclusions show that disposable nappies have a marginally lower environmental impact, in terms of CO2 production, but this assumes that cloth nsppies are washed above 60o, tumble dried and only used for 1 child. I washed mine mostly at 30o or 40o, line/radiator/air dried them and used them for 2 children, then sold them on! I imagine most people would, which will make them significantly lower impact than disposables.

I also got mine on 3 for 2 and half price. Total disposable nappy outlay £70 for 2 DC over 5.5 years. I thought that was pretty good!

What about biodegradable nappies?

Interesting link. I remember the first report - so biased!
I have c/p the last part of the conclusions as it shows how making 3 simple changes can make reusable nappies much much more environmentally friendly (well 2 changes plus either selling them on or using them on a subsequent baby)

"Combining three of the beneficial scenarios (washing nappies in a
fuller load, outdoor line drying all of the time, and reusing nappies on a second child)
would lower the global warming impact by 40 per cent from the baseline scenario, or
some 200kg of carbon dioxide equivalents over the two and a half years, equal to
driving a car approximately 1,000 km."

No need for liners. Use an old fleece jumper cut up. The poo mostly rolls off the fleece down the loo when you shake it.

I'm probably being thick but I still don't understand the point of the fleece liners.

The reusables we use have a fleece surface next to baby's bum. The absorbent core goes into a pocket between the fleece and the waterproof outer.

Why would a fleece liner be needed? I have been using disposables so poo can be easily disposed off

Fleece liner catches the bulk of the poo, so it can easily be shaken down the loo and flushed away.

You reuse them so you're not throwing anything away. Same as how using cloth wipes makes sense if you're already washing nappies :)

I live in the chilly and damp highlands of Scotland. Even if the temperature is only just above freezing a wee breeze will mean our reusable nappies dry much quicker outside than in. I line dry 90% of the time, use an indoor pulley drying rack if its pouring and have used my tumble dryer about 3times (for all washing not just nappies,)
And our nursery have had no problems with reusable. The older kids even looked at ours as part of an eco project

bike but could the poo not be as easily shaken off a nappy?

Pretty much, I didn't really use liners.

It seems that NYCs waste is not, in fact, all used to power steam... It goes to landfill.

www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/new-york-waste-management-plans-conflict

OP, how old is your baby? Are they doing solid poos?

DD is EBF so we don't bother with liners. When we first started using cloth nappies I used to rinse her pooey nappies before putting them in the bucket but now I just chuck them in.

I have got a fleece blanket (a pet one!) from the pound shop that I'm meaning to cut up into liners for when we need them.

I bloody love the cloth nappies though. They hold poo-splosions so much better than disposables. And they don't smell! We used disposables all last week as we were on holiday and jesus they smell awful. We do use disposable on a night though.

We also use reusable wipes, which are excellent; like pp have said they're so much better at cleaning up. Plus you don't end up accidentally chucking disposable wipes in the washing machine...

I don't think we've made back our initial outlay yet, but I did buy a few second hand, and hopefully they'll last if we have another baby.

I used fleece liners to keep the baby's skin dry and because it was easier to tip the poo in the toilet and hold it under the flush if necessary. Also used them as wipes.

blib she is 6 months old and poos are still pretty liquid as we are doing blw

I started on reusables when I was pg with Ds2. Ds1 didn't seem in a hurry to toilet train so at that point it was more like an investment for baby with Ds1 being free.

We have solar panels so that reduces the energy impact of washing and drying.

When I did use a disposable on Ds2 prior to weaning, he'd always leak poo so there was no added washing compared to the clothes I'd have to wash.

Misnomer I don't live in NYC but in a town just over the water from NYC. Our township has contracted with a waste management company that sells waste for incineration. The garden waste is collected separately and that is used for landfill which is fine. Our mayor has done everything they can do be environmentally friendly including introducing community compositing and water preservation schemes.

Sounds the ideal town to start a campaign to get nurseries to accept washables then! I think all nurseries in the uk do, or at least i cant think of one that refuses.