Should New Zealand Parents Feel Guilty About Using Disposable Nappies
"For as little as $1.75* per week you can now feel guilt free about using disposable nappies." The Enviro comp website states.**
"I applaud the fact that disposable companies are making an effort to reduce the massive impact that they obviously know their disposable products have on our landfills. However it seems that there is still very vague information regarding where the disposable compost is going to be used and by whom."
Recently there was an article about how a company making clean green compost was struggling to get their compost used in Christchurch, which would make me wonder how they intend the compost made from baby poo and disposable nappies to be used by the public.
It also appears that there is little or no information regarding what the additional environmental impact of a disposable nappy may be considering the additional natural resources that are used to compost them i.e. power, plus the impact from their individual collection by a truck every week.
There is also the other issue that around 13% of the nappy is non biodegradable which has to be disposed of (land filled) away from the composted parts of each nappy.
“Considering that around 1 million convenience nappies go in to NZ landfills every day, the possible 60,000 nappies that could be composted at this plant is only likely to be the equivalent of around 10 - 12 children’s nappies from birth to around 3 years getting composted per day.” Says the Nappy Lady, Kate Meads
“Using cloth nappies is still the most eco friendly option for New Zealand babies. This is mainly because parents have full control on the impact of their nappies. As more parents become aware of the ease of modern cloth nappies, more of them are making the smart switch to washable nappies.” Says the Nappy Lady
“When you consider that just one cloth nappy could replace up to 300 disposables this not only prevents 300 nappies from filling up our landfills but it screams that re-usable nappies are still the most economic option for people who are currently struggling financially.”
Using cloth nappies just keep making cents
Notes
* This is the very least parents may be paying if their collection is funded by their council. It may be costing parents up to $8.50 per week to compost their nappies if there is no council funding available.
**http://www.envirocomp.co.nz/Home-0.html
For more information or to contact The Nappy Lady (Kate Meads) please call (027) 22 11 242 or (07) 549 2955 or email info@nappydays.co.nz
