Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Cloth diapers ARE better for the Environment!
Reusable nappies better for the environment - it’s official!
The latest report by the Environment Agency (UK) confirms that reusable nappies, if used and laundered according to manufacturer's guidelines, can reduce the global warming impact of using reusable nappies over disposables by an incredible 40%.*
Reusable nappies, if used in an environmentally responsible way, create significantly less environmental impact than disposable nappies.
The new report is an update of the Environment Agency's initial report on the life cycle assessment study for disposable and reusable nappies, which was released in May 2005. The much criticised 2005 report seemed to conclude that there was no significant difference between the environmental impacts of disposable and reusable nappies.
Guy Schanschieff, MD of Bambino Mio, Europe's leading reusable nappy brand and Chair of the UK Nappy Alliance said: "I am delighted that this update has been published to correct the misunderstanding created by the initial report. It confirms that responsible use of reusable nappies would reduce the modern parent's environmental impact. Many people questioned the 2005 report and this led to the government commissioning this latest update. Reusable nappies are not only better for the environment, as confirmed by this report, but can save parents considerable amounts of money, which is particularly resonant in the present economic climate."
Defra's findings have apparently been contradicted in the Sunday Times, who have latched on to the report's findings regarding laundry habits. They state that if parents used tumble dryers and washed the nappies at 90 C the carbon impact could "spiral to 993 kg of CO2." However, most parents wash at more sensible temperatures!
* An updated Lifecycle Assessment Study for Disposable and Reusable Nappies, published 17/10/08.
Copies of the latest report are available here.
More diaper facts:
In 1988, over 18 billion diapers were sold and consumed in the United States that year.
The instructions on a disposable diaper package advice that all fecal matter should be deposited in the toilet before discarding, yet less than one half of one percent of all waste from single-use diapers goes into the sewage system.
Over 92% of all single-use diapers end up in a landfill.
In 1988, nearly $300 million dollars were spent annually just to discard disposable diapers, whereas cotton diapers are reused 50 to 200 times before being turned into rags.
No one knows how long it takes for a disposable diaper to decompose, but it is estimated to be about 250-500 years, long after your children, grandchildren and great, great, great grandchildren will be gone.
Disposable diapers are the third largest single consumer item in landfills, and represent about 4% of solid waste. In a house with a child in diapers, disposables make up 50% of household waste.
Disposable diapers generate sixty times more solid waste and use twenty times more raw materials, like crude oil and wood pulp.
The manufacture and use of disposable diapers amounts to 2.3 times more water wasted than cloth.
Over 300 pounds of wood, 50 pounds of petroleum feedstocks and 20 pounds of chlorine are used to produce disposable diapers for one baby EACH YEAR.
In 1991, an attempt towards recycling disposable diapers was made in the city of Seattle, involving 800 families, 30 day care centers, a hospital and a Seattle-based recycler for a period of one year. The conclusion made by Procter & Gamble was that recycling disposable diapers was not an economically feasible task on any scale.
Want to know more? Visit The Real Diaper Association.
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