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
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Washing Reusable Nappies is As Simple As 1 2 3
I have many parents who ask what the best way to wash their reusable cloth nappies is. Generally parents get their own routine after a time but to start with they may be nervous about using cloth diapers. So I decided to break down washing into a simple to understand step by step guide which will hopefully answer your questions. If you have other questions that are not covered in this, it pays to contact the manufacturer of your product.
Step one: Removing the nappy
Firstly you must take the soiled nappy off your baby. Use an old ice cream container in which you can place any soiled diapers and used wipes in while you pop the clean nappy onto your baby.
Solids in the nappy? Then you must dispose of all solids in the toilet (this is the case if you are using a disposable nappy as well) If you are using flushable liners, carefully remove the liner from the inside of the nappy and flush the liner down the toilet. If you are using reusable liners, take the nappy and the liner into the toilet and hold the re-usable liner in the toilet and flush the toilet onto it to remove any solids that are on it. Then wrap the liner up in the nappy ready for washing together.
Step 2: Dry Pail your nappies
Now days we do not have to soak our reusable nappies because the detergents and machines now do the work that our soakers used to do. If parents do soak their nappies they may wear the elastics and fabrics out earlier than expected because some of the soakers can be quite harsh on some modern fabrics. This is why we suggest using a dry pail which is simply a dry bucket with no water or soakers in it. This is also much safer for baby (no buckets of water around) and will save you from lifting heavy buckets into the washing machine.
Step 3: Wash the nappies
When you have a load of used reusable nappies or perhaps less but are ready to wash them, tip the contents of your bucket into the washing machine. To minimise the amount of washing, save more money and to lower the reusable diapers eco footprint, some parents will put them through a rinse cycle first and then add all of their babies other clothes into the same cycle. Some washing machines even have a special cycle just for nappies.
When you wash your nappies you only need to use a fraction of the amount of liquid / powder you would normally use to wash your clothes. We suggest around 1 - 2 tablespoons. Pop this in your machine as per your manufacturer's instructions. Turn the machine on and.....walk away....the machine does all of the nasty work for you while you have time to spend with your baby and family. Step 4: Drying your nappies
Once your machine has completed the task of washing your nappies (wow that was easy), it is time to dry them.
You can pop them on the line to dry with the rest of your washing and then walk away and let the sun dry, bleach and sanitize them while you spend time with your family. Or if you are short of time, you can tumble dry the diapers on a cool setting but we do recommend line drying wherever possible. Line drying saves you money and reduces the eco footprint of a reusable nappy.
Step 5: Folding your nappies
This is the best part, you take your diapers off the line or out of the drier and you pop them in your chosen storage place near where you change your baby they are all ready to go - NO FOLDING involved leaving you time to do many other things or sit and enjoy the evening on the couch!
Step 6: It is so easy!
It may have all sounded a bit ominous when you first start researching using reusable cloth nappies, but when you consider that:
- you do not have to use all of the nasty chemicals you may have thought you would have to use
- the nappies are likely to be far simpler to care for than you were led to believe
- Plus you will save thousands of dollars over a 2 - 3 year period so you would be crazy not to give it a go!
Step one: Removing the nappy
Firstly you must take the soiled nappy off your baby. Use an old ice cream container in which you can place any soiled diapers and used wipes in while you pop the clean nappy onto your baby.
Solids in the nappy? Then you must dispose of all solids in the toilet (this is the case if you are using a disposable nappy as well) If you are using flushable liners, carefully remove the liner from the inside of the nappy and flush the liner down the toilet. If you are using reusable liners, take the nappy and the liner into the toilet and hold the re-usable liner in the toilet and flush the toilet onto it to remove any solids that are on it. Then wrap the liner up in the nappy ready for washing together.
Step 2: Dry Pail your nappies
Now days we do not have to soak our reusable nappies because the detergents and machines now do the work that our soakers used to do. If parents do soak their nappies they may wear the elastics and fabrics out earlier than expected because some of the soakers can be quite harsh on some modern fabrics. This is why we suggest using a dry pail which is simply a dry bucket with no water or soakers in it. This is also much safer for baby (no buckets of water around) and will save you from lifting heavy buckets into the washing machine.
Step 3: Wash the nappies
When you have a load of used reusable nappies or perhaps less but are ready to wash them, tip the contents of your bucket into the washing machine. To minimise the amount of washing, save more money and to lower the reusable diapers eco footprint, some parents will put them through a rinse cycle first and then add all of their babies other clothes into the same cycle. Some washing machines even have a special cycle just for nappies.
When you wash your nappies you only need to use a fraction of the amount of liquid / powder you would normally use to wash your clothes. We suggest around 1 - 2 tablespoons. Pop this in your machine as per your manufacturer's instructions. Turn the machine on and.....walk away....the machine does all of the nasty work for you while you have time to spend with your baby and family. Step 4: Drying your nappies
Once your machine has completed the task of washing your nappies (wow that was easy), it is time to dry them.
You can pop them on the line to dry with the rest of your washing and then walk away and let the sun dry, bleach and sanitize them while you spend time with your family. Or if you are short of time, you can tumble dry the diapers on a cool setting but we do recommend line drying wherever possible. Line drying saves you money and reduces the eco footprint of a reusable nappy.
Step 5: Folding your nappies
This is the best part, you take your diapers off the line or out of the drier and you pop them in your chosen storage place near where you change your baby they are all ready to go - NO FOLDING involved leaving you time to do many other things or sit and enjoy the evening on the couch!
Step 6: It is so easy!
It may have all sounded a bit ominous when you first start researching using reusable cloth nappies, but when you consider that:
- you do not have to use all of the nasty chemicals you may have thought you would have to use
- the nappies are likely to be far simpler to care for than you were led to believe
- Plus you will save thousands of dollars over a 2 - 3 year period so you would be crazy not to give it a go!
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Does Using a Disposable Nappy Really Save More Time Than Using a Cloth Nappy?
Did you know that some disposable nappy companies suggest that just because parents using cloth nappies have to wash, dry and fold their nappies, that this may use up quality time which many parents may prefer to save for their families?
I have to say, what is really so hard about putting nappies in the washing machine and turning it on? We all wash our own underwear so what is the difference? And it is not like parents using cloth diapers stand at the line waiting for them to dry and even better, most cloth nappies today require no folding.
With small babies, we all use our washing machines daily! The hardest thing sometimes is to get into a routine - many people simply alternate clothes washes with nappy washes and some people just throw it all in together!
Also when using disposables I certainly found myself doing far more washing than I expected because they continually leaked through my newborns clothing and bedding, essentially creating more washing.
Modern reusable diapers are shaped to fit just like disposables. Sometimes the wrap is separate from the cloth nappy but most parents dress their baby in a number of items of clothing every day, so one extra item of clothing makes very little difference.
Another common complaint is 'having to handle the poo when you use cloth'. By using flushable liners in re-usable nappies, we don't have to deal with any of the nasty stuff, you simply just flush it away!
I am amazed at the number of parents I have spoken to, who have not read the small print on disposables where it quite clearly states that any solids should be disposed of down the toilet. It appears that most parents just wrap up the nappy, poo and all, and dispose of it into the bin to go into our landfills - just because it is a disposable nappy.
This means there could well be tonnes of untreated human waste sitting in our landfills.
With our economy the way it is and with the price of disposable nappies increasing, disposables may actually cost your family more time than you think. Consider how many extra hours a parent may need to work each week just to pay for the $50 worth of disposable nappies their baby is likely to use per week.
The amount of time one parent would have to work just to earn enough to purchase their disposable nappies would far outweigh the amount of time it would take for mum to turn on the washing machine 3-4 times a week and to hang out 4 loads of washing.
Modern cloth nappies have become easy, low cost, eco friendly alternatives to disposables and will not cost a family any more time than what their daily washing routine already does.
I have to say, what is really so hard about putting nappies in the washing machine and turning it on? We all wash our own underwear so what is the difference? And it is not like parents using cloth diapers stand at the line waiting for them to dry and even better, most cloth nappies today require no folding.
With small babies, we all use our washing machines daily! The hardest thing sometimes is to get into a routine - many people simply alternate clothes washes with nappy washes and some people just throw it all in together!
Also when using disposables I certainly found myself doing far more washing than I expected because they continually leaked through my newborns clothing and bedding, essentially creating more washing.
Modern reusable diapers are shaped to fit just like disposables. Sometimes the wrap is separate from the cloth nappy but most parents dress their baby in a number of items of clothing every day, so one extra item of clothing makes very little difference.
Another common complaint is 'having to handle the poo when you use cloth'. By using flushable liners in re-usable nappies, we don't have to deal with any of the nasty stuff, you simply just flush it away!
I am amazed at the number of parents I have spoken to, who have not read the small print on disposables where it quite clearly states that any solids should be disposed of down the toilet. It appears that most parents just wrap up the nappy, poo and all, and dispose of it into the bin to go into our landfills - just because it is a disposable nappy.
This means there could well be tonnes of untreated human waste sitting in our landfills.
With our economy the way it is and with the price of disposable nappies increasing, disposables may actually cost your family more time than you think. Consider how many extra hours a parent may need to work each week just to pay for the $50 worth of disposable nappies their baby is likely to use per week.
The amount of time one parent would have to work just to earn enough to purchase their disposable nappies would far outweigh the amount of time it would take for mum to turn on the washing machine 3-4 times a week and to hang out 4 loads of washing.
Modern cloth nappies have become easy, low cost, eco friendly alternatives to disposables and will not cost a family any more time than what their daily washing routine already does.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Articles
I love reading articles online. Over the past few months I have read many really interesting articles about all sorts of environmental issues and I came across this one which I thought was really interesting!
It is really awful but true that we are living in a plastic fantastic world and that from the day we are born, we are exposed to plastics of all different varietys!
A great read but a very real worry!
It is really awful but true that we are living in a plastic fantastic world and that from the day we are born, we are exposed to plastics of all different varietys!
A great read but a very real worry!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
kates interview on good morning
This week I was interviewed on Good Morning. I have linked to my live interview from Monday. It went really well and the questions were really great. They are a fabulous bunch of people and wonderful to work with!
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/video_popup_windows_skin/2679331
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/video_popup_windows_skin/2679331
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