To think a tax on nappies is unfair?

[colacolaco]

It just seems like yet again, it’s the poorest families who will be penalized and suffer most from this.

And what next - a tax on sanitary pads and tampons? Because guess what, they’re not very environmentally friendly either.

I tried to use cloth nappies, but without a tumble drier they were not feasible for me. Plus they leaked and the only answer to that seemed to be to try different brands until you found one that worked for your child, which was a huge cost. Disposable nappies would have to be considerably more expensive before they come close to the upfront cost of reusables, which must be a significant factor putting people off. Even if they’re cheaper in the long run, you still need the starting costs.

I do use reusable sanitary towels though and think they’re great. Smaller than nappies and obviously only used for a few days a month so I don’t have any issues washing/drying them.

"Should adults who require such products for incontinence also have to use cloth nappies/inco pads?"

Anyone who thinks adults and teenagers should be walking around with a big fat nappy arse should be forced to wear one themselves.

@User56439876

A tax on poor women working full time while well off SAHM with their cleaners, large utility rooms with Miele appliances are on Mumsnet telling everyone how virtuous and eco friendly they are, that is the future.

Interesting. Most families i know are the opposite. SAHM live in small houses with a lower income and working parents have huge houses and a cleaner. I can only think of one exception.

yes, and it takes sanitary pads and tampons a similar amount of time to decompose. Should we hike the prices of those up too?
They should phase out over time due to the damage caused to the environment.
Free mooncups and towel nappies or look for a material that will break down over a shorter period.
There is tons of nappies going to the dump weekly, if we continue using disposable products we'll be over run.
I don't agree with additional costs for a hard up parent but they do cause lots of damage to the environment and didn't exist 50 years ago.

I worked 3 days, DD went to nursery for 4. All the time in cloth nappies until she was 18 months.

I supplied 4 cloth nappies each day plus a handful of disposables for emergencies (never really used). Used cloth was put in a wet bag. Poo was catched in liners and flushed.

Every two evenings I would wash the nappies when I came home and put them in a dryer overnight. DD slept in the same room as the nappy bin, no smell at all. The bin was washed and I used tea tree and lavender oil to disinfect.

You don’t wash nappy after every use. So childcare is the same as at home, you use liner to ‘tip’ any poop off and liner and nappy into wet bag like you would roll up a disposable. They would just give wet bag with dirty nappies in to parent. After newborn, most babies use around 6 nappies per day. Not all would be at nursery.
Same as if I am out all day.
Wash every 2 days here.

www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/government-justine-roberts-whitehall-downing-street-david-lynch-b953075.html

It's been quite strongly denied.

But there are eco versions, and we really should see some nudging towards using them. Less plastic is still a step forward

@laurenlodge

Women don't choose to have periods, so equating nappies and tampons isn't really a relevant analogy is it.

Exactly.

Having children is a choice. If you don’t want to pay tax on children items then don’t have children. It’s a known fact that children come with costs, financially and environmentally.

Cloth nappies are inexpensive, easily bought secondhand, far cheaper than disposables and can be used on multiple children.
Education is what is needed so that more people use them. We have clothed since home from hospital. It’s really easy (and we’ve never used a tumble-drier for them. Line dry in summer or indoors in winter).
I’m all for a tax and eventually a ban.

Just in the last month I threw out the last of DS terry squares. Harrington’s gold for anyone who remembers. He’s 31. They did him and no2. They’ve been floor cloths for years.

With my last (who is 19) I used them but also upgraded to prefolds and they’re still in use as floor cloths and currently my oven glove because I need a new oven glove and keep forgetting.

I worked, sent them to the childminder and she sent them home (albeit in a plastic bag) and they were washed every night and set in front of the coal fire on an airer or dried outside if I could.

I thought I was lucky I didn’t have to use a twin tub to wash them.

We used cloth nappies and didn't have a tumble drier and managed just fine. We do need to do something as expendable products which are horrendous for the environment are seen as the only option. If we keep going this way we will be an island of dirty nappies.

@User56439876

A tax on poor women working full time while well off SAHM with their cleaners, large utility rooms with Miele appliances are on Mumsnet telling everyone how virtuous and eco friendly they are, that is the future.

@User56439876 you do know poor women worked before disposable nappies were invented. Especially in WW2. Who do you think staffed the munitions factories.

@Niconacotaco

I agree. I don't have a tumble drier. I don't know how I would have coped with reusable nappies and paying extra tax wouldn't help me afford a lovely big kitchen to fit a drier in.

None of us had tumble driers in the 70s, we dried nappies on the washing line or clothes airer.

Yes, my mum brought me 24 cloth nappies when my son was born 35 years ago. We lived in a one bedroom flat but I bought a small tumble dryer second hand that we kept in our bedroom. Soaked the used nappies in a lidded bucket and put on a wash every couple of days.
They lasted for all 3 of my children and I still have some which I use for all kinds of things around the house.
We were very hard up when we first had kids and they saved me a huge amount of money

Low income families should be given a pack of 24 reusables as part of a new baby box for first children - the kind I used are suitable from around 6-8 weeks until potty training and can be secured with with pins and plastic pants or wraps (different sizes needed as they grow). Yes they need washing but they can be dried on a line or rack, my grandmother hand washed her nappies, my mother used a twin tub - it's really not an effort in a washing machine. If you have two kids in nappies at the same time you don't need more, you just wash more often.

I'd have use reusables but DDs nursery wouldn't use them so she'd have still been in quite a lot of disposables - she was in 4 days a week from 12m (3 days a week from 11m and 2 days from 6 m as I slowly increased my working days) so I think childcare needs to catch up if they do bring this in as none of the local nurseries would use reusable nappies.

Mine for DS 1 were a present from my aunt and granny I think. I didn’t buy them

Ps I sold my nappies once youngest was potty trained for almost as much as my outlay!

Several councils provide cloth nappies free of charge for babies if you apply.
You can often pick them up second hand or from freegle.
They are actually really easy to manage and save a fortune. I worked full time with two kids in cloth nappies and managed. Yes it was extra work being organized but I was haunted by the nappies sitting in waste for hundreds of years.

My nursery also took cloth nappies.

Cloth nappies are a much more expensive up front cost which won't be possible for many families who live paycheck to paycheck to afford. We tried cloth nappies but couldn't get the hang of tjem they kept leaking and creating more washing as clothes would be wet. So yes I'd prefer not to have a nappy tax but I can see why they want to implement it.

DD1 has reuseables for her baby ..we got them second hand and they are brilliant, and no more hassle than any other washing. Use a liner and booster (washable) at night. It has saved her hundreds of pounds already, and as long s you have a decent supply drying time isn't an issue. We picked them up from FB marketplace.

Years ago everyone used cloth nappies and it wasn't an impossible task! I think they should be taxed..and made something only used in emergencies because they are horrific for landfill!

It's going to take a lot of unrest, a lot of hard evidence, and many tax breaks to get people to change their behaviours and get where we need to be.

As it's all some generations can remember they are reluctant to change the convenient way of living into something more sustainable.

The reality is, in no shape or form should plastics be made from crude oil. The plastic used in society going forward should be solely from recycled plastic and this will in itself push up prices of products. Alternatives to plastics will be made if the need to find them is great. We need to find alternatives urgently.

The whole mindset of most of the developed world is towards comfort and convenience with very little thought to the bigger picture.
Plastic in cars needs to be rethought, plastic windows, insulation, all packaging, every single throw away item, it's in so many everyday items.

The only items that might be worth the environmental price are single use medical items as infection is an issue with older methods, these can then be recycled.

A cohesive coordinated approach with tax breaks for environmentally friendly products might be a better way ahead. And stricter rules on what crude oil can be used for.

Sadly we are so far from this, people give lip service to change until it affects them. Then they want the instant cheap disposable option.

We only get one shot at this and the goal moves further away each moment.

I agree the method the government is implementing is taxing the less wealthy yet again. Maybe a substantial subsidy towards reusables issues for new mums might have been a better idea then taxation coming in later.

At least give people time to change before taxing them.

I think we sometimes forget how recent an invention plastic throw-away nappies are.

My elder siblings pre-dated them. They were newish when I was born. DMum used cloth we me in the main, because of the expense, but she treated herself to disposables for holidays (doing nappies at home was something you just got into the habit of, dealing with a strange machine or launderettes on holiday was a PITA)

It's difficult to make a biodegradable throw-away nappy - because they have to contain warm wee/poo for a while without leaking/coming apart. But there are versions which use different materials, which are still up to the job and degrade more quickly that can replace some, if not all of the tougher ones.

And yes, we should be looking at eco sanpro and inco products too

It will likely be women that have this extra washing to sort out so government won't care anyway.