At the moment, we have free choice about nappies. There isn’t really hardly any government intervention to incentivise one option over the other, so most people will choose convenience or perceived convenience over the alternative.
Some people are genuinely into protecting the environment. Most people like to say they are interested but in reality, don’t want to make choices that protect the environment as they cost themselves financially or in terms of effort. That’s the reality isn’t it in all our choices, whether they are about sanitary products, travel, packaging, clothing, food choices etc. Nappies are just another of those choices and a choice we face at a particular point in our lives which is for a short while for most.
All the barriers that stop people making environmentally friendly choices apply to nappies, plus the fact that it relates to poo, which perhaps makes some people more squeamish about their choices too.
People who have chosen to use cloth nappies or other environmental lifestyle choices, can become evangelistic about them. Often they have found that the inconveniences are smaller than thought, and because they value the environment highly, they think others should too. But the fact is, people just don’t. Environmental consequences of our actions and sending nappies to landfill to still be there in 500 years, won’t be seen in our lifetimes, an basically, people don’t give a shit about future generations and only about themselves. It is the reality.
So I wouldn’t expect there will be a sudden swing to cloth nappies. I used them because they saved me money (main reason for me) and it was a nice addition that they also are good for the environment. I also choose refurbished electrical products because they are cheaper, and then get to feel good because it’s a greener option too. But until and if the government financially incentivises one choice over the other or legislates to influence people’s choices over green issues, people will keep making the choice the benefit themselves.
People don’t like putting pooey nappies in a bucket, or tipping poo down the loo, or running their washing machine two or three times a week extra. In their minds, these are significant downsides. They want to change their baby and roll the nappy up with the poo inside it (who actually removes the poo from the disposable nappy) and throw the whole lot in the bin. After a week or fortnight, the bin is bursting with just 7 or 14 days or smelly nappies, many of which are full of shit, but they are taken away to be out I sight and out of mimd, and that’s what they care about. And with you. Families and all the pressures of modern life, that time saving and inconvenience saving feels worth it. Like lots of our choices, we don’t really want to think about them beyond what suits us. And actually at the moment, we are all free regarding nappies to do exactly what suits us....and that’s the explanation for why more people don’t use cloth nappies.
Attitudes are notoriously difficult to change. Information campaigns have to run for years and years and still struggle (think campion. To discourage smoking or campaign to boost breastfeeding). The population and government too havent made the mindset change and don’t have the will to push through attitude change or to legislate to incentivise change. So cloth nappies will remain niche.
And threads like these where people go off on other behaviours which seem very ‘right-on’ such as baby-wearing, just confirm in people’s minds that cloth nappies are for tree huggers and not people like them who live normal lives and don’t wear their babies.