Nappies & Their Impact On The Environment
Are Disposable Or Cloth Nappies Better For The Environment?
An Environment Agency report has concluded that, whether parents choose using disposable or cloth nappies makes little difference to the environment. Disposable nappies create thousands of tonnes of landfill, the water and energy required to wash and dry cloth nappies impacted on the environment in other ways.
In 2004 five environmental Swedish campaigners claimed recycling was a waste of time and money. They stated that incinerating household waste, as opposed to recycling was better for the environment, economy and the natural resource management. They argued that collecting household waste was unprofitable because, recycling cost were twice as high as the cost of raw materials.
A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) said recycling was a higher priority for the UK government than incineration.
Disposable nappies, bought by 95% of parents, led to 400,000 tonnes of waste dumped mainly at landfill sites.
But re-usable nappies affected the environment in other ways, such as by the water and energy used for washing and drying them, it found.
Who Conducted This Study?
This research has been carried out by the Environment Agendy and compared the environmental impact of disposable, home-laundered flat cloth nappies and commercially-laundered cloth nappies delivered to the home.
Over two thousand parents were surveyed. Tricia Henton, Director of Environmental Protection at the Environment Agency said: "Although there is no substantial difference between the environmental impacts of the three systems studied, it does show where each system can be improved."
She said parents using reusable nappies can improve their impact on the environment by looking at how they wash them, such as using a bigger load at a lower temperature. Most parents wash nappies at 60C.
Philip Ward, Director Of Waste Minimisation for WRAP, said: "Our Real Nappy Programme is aimed at reducing the 2.8bn disposable nappies sent to landfill each year and helping parents to make an informed choice.
"The Environment Agency's report itself calls for a reduction in the amount of disposable nappy waste being sent to landfill."
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