Did anyone else know you are supposed to wash out disposable nappies before putting them in the bin?

[sparkleymummy]

I had no idea! I thought the whole point of them was that you didn't have to wash them.

This is copied from my employers website:

"Use cloth nappies when you put a nappy on your child. Britain trashes Millions of disposable nappies a year. Nappies take up 1% of Britain?s landfills and they take 500 years to decompose. Cotton nappies can be reused 100 times and decompose in 1 to 6 months. These disposable nappies consume 1,265,000 metric tons of wood pulp and 75,000 metric tons of plastic. After using disposable nappies we are supposed to wash them out, only 5% of us do. Meaning that millions of tons of dirty, possibly disease infected nappies wind up in our so called "sanitary" landfills. In fact three million tons of untreated faeces and urine does not go through our sewage system but into our landfills. Over 100 different diseases are known to be excreted in human faeces, and there is a chance (at least it has not happened yet) that they can seep into our groundwater."

didn't know you were supposed to wash them out and never did

thats ridiculous. how can you wash out a disposable nappy?!

You're supposed to flip any solids in the loo (we do), don't see how you could 'wash' them tho...

No I never have either. And to be honest I won't be washing them in the future. Might as well use cloth nappies if you have to wash the disposables.

you are supposed to flush the poo away.

ive never put poo in the bin. that goes in the toilet

I put very solid ones down the loo but the less than solid ones are staying where they are I'm afraid.

Wow why are you meant to wash them exactly.? Wouldn they become a sodden mess.? Did you see an article on it or something.? X i am very curious.!

I went to a landfill site on a visit once with DD, arranged by a local green group. I was v impressed at how green it was.

They dig out a hole and then put a very thick non-permeable liner over the bottom (like a massive pond). It was to be able to withstand having all that waste, sharp edges etc compacted and massive pieces of equipment driven over it to prevent seepage into the surrounding land.

The methane from the one we visited is used to produce energy that is put into the national grid. Some of the gas is piped to a local brickworks to fire the kilns that bake their bricks. I think that's pretty good.

Stinks though.

Much greener, I think, than all the plastic, paper, etc that the local council collects (we visited that bit too). That's all shipped to the Far East for recycling in the empty containers which have just brought lots of manufactured goods to the UK. I sincerely hope it is recycled and not dumped in landfill or incinerated in China, Indonesia, etc.

Hi SueW! Unfortunately DH has a client who operates in the recycling field and says it doesn't all get recycled, just dumped over there. Very disappointing if its true.

I once did wash a disposable nappy....in the washing machine!! ds2 had hidden a pull up in the pile of washing and i just chucked everything in without looking. Lucky for me (and him!) it didn't have poo in nor did it burst all that gel stuff everywhere!

Why is it that in this day and age, we can't have disposable, green, ethical nappies?

Can anyone tell me if there are washables around for disabled children?

i WOULD LOVE TO USE THEM FOR ds4.

Hi SM Hope all's well. I was v when they told us about the Far East 'recycling' having seen something on Watchdog but it was a bit too far down my priority list at the time to start writing letters to the council! It's irritating enough that they won't give us another composting bin!

Will drop you an e.

hhs, there are biodegradable nappies out there, including, iirc, ones that you can put in a wormery.

So do most people use a degradable liner with disposables then? I hadn't even considered it.

DS1 is now in pull ups for nighttime only. I might switch to washables for him. Do they do them for toddlers? He's just 3 but small for his age. He likes to be able to trot off to the toilet and pull them up and down himself though.

wow, never knew, i bet a large % of mums dont know either.

I have 'washed' may disposable nappies in the past. By accident. The results were disastrous usually.

Really my ds1 was breastfed exclusively for 6mths and there was no way i cud wash it out or put poo down toilet..he used to leak regulary..like water. Hv said this was normal for breastfed babies and was never smelly either!

You are meant to tip solid poo down loo but i don't think any of my friends who use disposibles do. it is quite gross imho if you leave it in then have it sitting in a bin for up to 2 weeks. Those nappy wrappers are even worse as they can apparently last for up to 4 weeks before being emptied. Yeugh! I really dislike it when friends leave pooey nappies in our bins! oh well, i'm sure i do lots of things they don't like too!
yes, there are washable for larger children, some of the makers will custom-make them. Probably best to ask on nappy board. i know Minky do, not sure who else. hth

manxmum- easy peasy nappies do a shaped terry for bigger kids. Bumper & paddyT both claim to fit 4 yr olds. PaddyT isn't very expensive either.

Next week is 'Real Nappy Week' there should be events in your area where anyone even remotely interested in cloth nappies can get a closer look and feel for them. Its a PITA that, with there being so much choice in cloth nappies, you can only really buy the majority of them online without seeing them first.

Find info on events, advisors and financial incentives in your local area herewww.realnappycampaign.com/ or pop over to the nappy thread on here.

You are supposed to flush solid waste before disposing of the disposable in the bin but if they don't make that clear to parents (via parentcraft classes, info on the nappy packaging, nappy changeroom bins etc) how are we supposed to know????

sparklymummy- you can get washable pull ups too!