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 agree the method the government is implementing is taxing the less wealthy yet again.

As there are far more people who are less wealthy then it's inevitable that they will be taxed, alongside with the wealthier, who BTW are taxed too.

We cannot deal with pollution by taxing only the wealthy 5% or so. But we have to deal with air fuel, and the aviation industry, which, is not taxed.

Having children is a choice. Using disposable plastic which will take centuries to decompose is a choice. Choices have consequences.

A tax on nappies? Sounds interesting. Great if it could be paired up with a policy to subsidize the initial outlay for a set of cloth nappies. I've been using fabulous bamboo fibre nappies for the past two years and am very proud at having prevented thousands of nappies from ending up in landfill where yes, they take 500 years to breakdown. 500 years in n exchange for a couple of hours of convenience! And I don't believe using cloth nappies is a privilege thing, it's a get into a good habit and stick to it thing.

I doubt many men will need to worry about this, they will be too busy with their hobbies and work.

@User56439876

Are those that use cloth nappies working full time and do you provide the nursery/childminder with cloth nappies?

I normally work as a teacher, averaging 40 hours a week on a 0.8 contract and use a mix of nursery and family help. None of the nurseries I looked round batted an eyelid when I said she was in resables.

@Anothernamechange3

Why can’t they tax the manufacturers more based on amount of plastic packaging they use instead of it all being up to us? The idea that we take our reusable bags to the supermarket to fill them with food covered in unnecessary plastic just doesn’t make sense to me. If it was solely about the environment and not money, surely that would be a more effective way to start?

The customer always pays, one way or the other.

How much more heating and electricity will people use to dry washable nappies? In some places they will dry inside overnight (very bad for your house & condensation) but if you live near the coast the air is damper and clothes don't dry overnight in winter without heating or dehumidifiers.

What's the knock on effect in terms on health for kids growing up in damp houses?

What’s the goal here? I remember reading a gov. report on washable vs disposable and the washables created more carbon emissions. Is landfill worse or better than high carbon emissions? I genuinely don’t know but it seems everyone latches on to certain ideas such as plastic being awful (obviously single use is bad) but actually glass is much worse for the environment because they are rarely reused and it takes a lot more energy to recycle glass. It also seems the people who are buried with all this extra washing are female.

Isn't it funny how it really only affects woman. Of course some man but the majority of the time it's the woman buying the nappies.

This world really does hate woman doesn't it.

So would this include adult nappies too? I use disposable with my care clients, where do they draw the line? Sounds like penalising the poorest again. Unless reusable are more affordable.

@thecognoscenti

Having children is a choice. Using disposable plastic which will take centuries to decompose is a choice. Choices have consequences.

I hope you don't buy anything from the supermarket that has plastic on.

Also anyone who tells me that washables are fine to go in on a 40 degree wash is lying. They need to be washed at 60 to be hygienic.

@poshme

How much more heating and electricity will people use to dry washable nappies? In some places they will dry inside overnight (very bad for your house & condensation) but if you live near the coast the air is damper and clothes don't dry overnight in winter without heating or dehumidifiers.

What's the knock on effect in terms on health for kids growing up in damp houses?

What do people do with their clothes, bedding and towels? Do the same....

Deal with the washing of shitty nappies will be mostly women’s work, as it’s the women that take more maternity leave, and that’s how society rolls anyway (yes I know there are exceptions and all the exceptions are vociferous Mmers )

Back to washing nappies. By hand as washing machines are not environmentally friendly either.

No dryers because…. Energy

And whilst we go back in time, pretending or trying to be green, the rest of the world will continue it’s expansion and consumption

Having children is a choice but being disabled isn't? So what about prolonged use of nappies in older children and adults?

Going slightly off topic but if parents are struggling to pay for nappies, I've found Lidl's own to be very good quality and very reasonably priced!

The nursery my children went to used Terry square nappies for all the children. Supplied by the nursery and washed by the nursery.

They put the reusable nappy my child arrived in into a waterproof bag to be taken home, and changed them into one of my own nappies late afternoon to go home.

@FedNlanders

Having children is a choice but being disabled isn't? So what about prolonged use of nappies in older children and adults?

These would presumably be qualified as "medical" products and not subject to the same taxation.

I also used cloth nappies with no tumble drier and a small kitchen....
I bought them second hand mostly and re sold them when we had finished potty training.
Its really not a big inconvenience, it was just a washing machine load every other day for me.
I loved our colourful nappies.
I'm not sure where the idea that you have to tumble dry them comes from.
Mine either went on the line or radiator.

@CourgetteGlutTony

The nursery my children went to used Terry square nappies for all the children. Supplied by the nursery and washed by the nursery. They put the reusable nappy my child arrived in into a waterproof bag to be taken home, and changed them into one of my own nappies late afternoon to go home.

That sounds good as they will be washing full loads of nappies also, rather than individual DPs washing a few at a time and having the washer on, maybe that should be the way forward.

@beetuljoos

I used cloth nappies as a young, skint parent with no tumble drier or outside space for a clothes line. It's not very expensive upfront, nor overly difficult. Many councils also give grants for cloth nappies.

I agree with this- although I was fortunate to be financially comfortable-I found the cloth nappies to be easy to use, I had fewer issues with nappy rash when we moved onto them and they didn’t cost nearly as much as I thought to buy outright (and our council does provide financial assistance to low income families for use of cloth nappies, so it isn’t just beetuljoos’ council). It made little, if any, difference to electricity bill, I did not have a tumble drier at the time and managed just fine. You don’t need one to use cloth nappies. Generations of people managed to use them, there is no reason why we can’t now. It is less convenient, but it isn’t necessarily more expensive.

Everyone is going to need to make changes to try to protect the environment. Even if the “rich” did everything possible (I know they aren’t) it would not be enough, the middle and low income groups are going to have to make changes too. And we know that making things more expensive is one of the more effective ways to change behaviour (education helps, but if something is more convenient and there is no real price difference, even in the knowledge of plastic waste, many will still choose convenience).

I agree more pressure should be put on manufacturers to reduce plastic packaging, and other measures such as higher taxes on non-environmentally friendly luxuries, flights etc. And more money put into research for green fuels and technology. Whataboutery is not helpful though. All of these measures need to take place, so we might as well start somewhere.

For those interested in trying affordable reusable nappies, aldi sell their own mama brand ones for about £5 and they often have a leading all-in-one nappy (Bambino Mio) for under £10. They are both microfiber so quick drying.

@LegoCaltrops

How long does it take for happy meal toys to decompose? Or the toys from comics? Or cereal boxes? Or the 3 layers of mixed plastic packaging from numerous overpackaged food items sold by supermarkets?

I'm not arguing against promoting cloth nappies. It's a good thing to do. But I think there are better places to start. And there needs to be more carrot before the stick is used.

Considering mc Donalds happy meal toys are now cardboard things, a couple months on my compost heap

Comic toys - well take responsibility for that, either don't buy, buy and give the toys to a charity shop when they get bored with them, or realise that chucking them in the bin is an awful thing to do, they still get more than the hour or two use of a disposable nappy mind

Cereal boxes... uk cereal no longer gives away toys in the box - for starters they don't want people having more reason to but sugary cereal

And just don't buy the overpackaged food - if you aren't buying crap then it can come without plastic, lobby supermarkets and companies to reduce it

We cannot afford to choose right now what waste reduction get a priority, our earth is on a knife edge, unless every individual does all they can and forces companies to make a move to reduce waste, we won't be around to use the products anyway

If anything nappy manufacturers should be pushed to make the material more biodegradable rather than taxing the end user

I would have thought the answer was biodegradable nappies. I use compost liners made from potato starch. They are waterproof (for several hours) and take the same amount of time to rot down as the rest of my compost (have two garden compost bins). I can't see why nappies can't be made using this method.
For my own dc I used a 50/50 nappy. Had a reusable waterproof outer, and completely natural fibre throw away main part. The waterproof outer washed well at 40 (unless we had poo explosion!) and dried quickly either on the line or clotheshorse.