Real Nappies drying on the line. From left to right: a home made baby wipe, a plastic outer, two real nappies (Dippy Diaper and FuzzyBunz) and a booster pad . By the way, these two real nappies in newborn size have been lent to us by the Highland Real Nappy Project, thanks!
Jenny and I are using real, washable nappies for our baby daughter. We took our decision quite quickly: it seemed to make complete sense – less waste of course but we had also heard that it is better for the environment overall, and that real nappies are simply cheaper than disposable nappies. (I’ve also seen a flyer showing that my employer, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) supports real nappies in case I needed more convincing.) However, now that I am half-way through “The Skeptical Environmentalist” by Bjørn Lomborg, I thought that instead of relying on hear say, I should really look at what evidence is out there.
My conclusion is that real nappies are better for the environment given the laundering pattern which we use at home. This is something that is not 100% clear on real nappy promotional material: you need to be sensible in using the washing machine and tumble dryer to actually lower the environmental impact below that of disposable nappies. Furthermore, I am not completely convinced that real nappies are cheaper. Running a washing machine is expensive and given that I don’t know for sure the energy consumption associated with one single wash, it is difficult for me to say that I will save much money at this stage.
Experience shows that real/washable nappies are not difficult to use although it is more time consuming than disposables. It requires being more organised too. I suggest new parents give it a go and consider their environmental conscience, their wallet and their timetable before taking a decision. I suspect availability of space to hang/dry the nappies will be key as if the nappies go in the tumble dryer, most environmental benefits are void.
If you are keen on learning more about nappies, here is a lengthy summary of what I have found in a few evenings of Internet (nappy) searching. Please don’t take this as a thoroughly researched article: it isn’t. As you can guess, I spend much more of my time changing nappies rather than researching them. Nonetheless, writing this article helped me getting satisfied with my initial choice.
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