Real nappies: the bottom line

9:30am Tuesday 22nd April 2008

With more parents trying to be environmentally-friendly, real nappies - rather than plastic disposables - are making a comeback. Julia Breen looks at the massive range of nappies on the market, and whether they really are more green'

EVERYONE of a certain age will have some kind of horror story about terry nappies.

One mother, now a grandmother, when changing her small baby after her toddler, was on autopilot and accidentally fastened the top layer of her baby's skin to the nappy with the "safety" pin. The baby escaped serious injury, but had a bit of a shock.

Before the era of disposables, we are led to believe, babies were in daily danger from the nappy pin.

Grandparents today will remember painstakingly soaking nappies in buckets, washing them and line drying for hours or even days, even in the ravages of winter.

And, as you needed a postgraduate diploma in origami to work out how to fold a terry, no wonder disposable nappies were welcomed with open arms by most mothers.

But green issues have moved to the top of the agenda, and increasingly parents are switching back to washable nappies.

This week is Real Nappy Week and campaigners are urging more parents to change over to cloth nappies. So, instead of binning your child's latest plastic-enclosed, whiffy offering, you flush it down the loo and dump the nappy in a bucket ready for your next wash. No soaking or scrubbing is necessary, because today's washing machines are far more highperformance.

You can still buy the old-fashioned terry nappies, and they're the cheapest of the real nappies on the market. But there now a wealth of preshaped, all-in-one, organic cotton, bamboo, fleece or even rainbow- coloured nappies on the market.

And, thanks to an ingenious plastic grip invention called the nappy "nippa", as well as in-built Velcro and press studs, nappy pins have all but vanished.

Cecily Nattress, who has two young children in reusable nappies, says: "When I first started using them some of the older generation thought it was because I couldn't afford disposable nappies.

They remember the days of soaking, and scrubbing, and complicated folding.

"When disposables first came out they were marketed in a certain way and people who didn't use them were looked down on because they couldn't afford them. Now the tide is turning back again."

Cecily has two boys, aged two and four months, both in nappies, and uses bamboo cloth nappies because they are more absorbent than cotton. Last year she became an agent for Baby Kind, a company that sells a range of cloth nappies.

She says: "They are definitely rising in popularity. Many people are thinking about how to reduce their waste, especially with the bin collections being reduced to each fortnight, and the nappies are also a good way of saving money."

Disposable nappies are estimated to cost parents £1,100 for each child, while a birth to potty pack of cloth nappies costs about £200-£300.

Mothercare, which is visited by an estimated 90 per cent of pregnant women in the UK, has launched its own range of washable nappies and sells most of the main real nappy brands, which is an indication of how they have grown in popularity.

One of the main washable brands, allin- one manufacturer Bambino Mio, has reported a 40 per cent increase in sales, which shows how fast the market is growing.

But there is still some debate about whether real nappies, with all the washing and drying involved, are actually more environmentally friendly.

A May 2005 Environment Agency report compared disposables with real nappies washed at home, and real nappies which were sent to a laundry service. It concluded that no system was "greener"

than any other.

Rob Walsh, of the Environment Agency, says: "In essence it made the conclusion that simply using reusable nappies wasn't in itself environmentally beneficial - washing, drying and other such practices can have a varying impact.

For example, if you wash at 90 degrees on a half load and tumble dry, it can be more damaging."

However, he says that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has commissioned an update study, which is expected to be published this year, because it said it "recognised practices have changed on both sides since the first report".

Rebecca Rapson, of the Real Nappy Campaign, says: "The headline of the 2005 report did say that there was no environmental difference because parents using washable nappies had to launder them. However, it did say that parents were still saving on waste.

"It also ignored the fact that most parents wash nappies at 40 or 60 degrees and use full loads. Many try to avoid tumble drying where possible, but the study focused on a small sample of washable nappy users, washing at 90 degrees and tumble drying and even ironing the nappies."

Cecily says she washes her nappies every other day, at 40 degrees, and line dries whenever possible.

She says: "Most of the nappy brands say you shouldn't wash at 90 degrees, mainly because it damages the nappies because many contain elastic. Washing at 40 is usually fine. They certainly don't need ironing and a lot are designed to be quick-drying."

Councils across the North-East are now offering incentive schemes for people who buy washable nappies in a bid to cut down on landfill waste. In the UK alone, about three billion, or 690,000 tonnes, of disposable nappies end up in landfill every year, where they generate methane, a greenhouse gas. It is estimated that a disposable nappy takes between 300 and 500 years to rot down in a landfill site.

North Yorkshire County Council, its seven district councils and the City of York council offer an incentive scheme, where parents can claim £30 cash back on real nappy purchases of £50 or more, providing they reside in the county, have proof of purchase and have a baby of 12 months or under.

Darlington Council offers £25 cash back on purchases of £50 or more. Other councils will sell nappies at subsidised rates, or offer incentives. For more information about schemes in your area, visit www.realnappycampaign.com.

■ Cecily Nattress holds a "nappuccino"

event on the third Monday of each month at Shildon Sure Start centre, offering coffee and advice on the different kinds of nappies available. She also offers home visits. For more information contact her on 07736-015427.

BabyKind has teamed up with The Northern Echo to offer readers the opportunity to win a Limited Edition Real Nappy Week Trial Pack. The trial pack contains a couple of top brand cloth nappies, re-usable wipes and flushable nappy liners. To enter, please answer the following question: How many disposable nappies end up in landfills each year? a) Three thousand; b) Three million; c) Three billion To enter send your answer along with your name and address to: Real Nappy Week Competition, The Northern Echo, PO Box 14, Priestgate, Darlington, County Durham, DL1 1NF.

The deadline for entries is Tuesday, April 29 and usual Newsquest competition rules apply.

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