Possible “nappy tax” on disposables

Nappy service is always an option. Might be more popular if the price came down.

If those mums want their children to have a decent future on a planet which is hospitable to human life I think they'll have to come to terms with cloth nappies.

My granddaughters aged from 8 to 17 were all reared in cloth nappies , so the idea isn’t that new
The first “disposables” are still mouldering in various landfills

Yes always the wonens job to save the planet.

Or women even

I used terry nappies for my children but I believe re-useable nappies are far more user friendly and easier these days. We cannot continue to throw away three billion nappies into landfill every year.

I agree Gwyneth. I had no idea they amounted to "three billion nappies into landfill every year".

Galaxy

Yes always the wonens job to save the planet.

Indeed - unfortunately women still do the lion's share of domestic work.

If I were a young mother I wouldn't be using reusable nappies.

Have there been any serious studies to show they really are more eco-friendly - taking into account manufacture, plus plastic cover, detergent, electricity?

Lots of families live in flats with no outside space, so you can forget about snowy white nappies blowing in the wind, which many on here wax lyrical about!

3bn nappies p.a.is an awful lot to put into landfill. DD used ready shaped terry nappies, with integral plastic pants, all held together with Velcro. Her then London borough offered cheap ones for new mums so they didn’t use disposable.

If the baby or toddler is with a childminder or in a nursery all day, can staff be expected to deal with various types of cloth nappies in large quantities?

I was in my 30s, knackered, had to return to work after 11 weeks and used cloth nappies.

I am 62 and my parents reliably inform me that I had disposable nappies. I tried to use terry nappies with my first born, but am ashamed to say I never got the hang of it and quickly turned to disposables. Now my grandchildren are in cloth nappies. They are much more user-friendly than the old terry nappies, being brightly coloured little 'pants' with poppers on them. The big advance we need is flushable nappy liners as the whole mess could then be lifted off the nappy and plopped in the loo. Atm the worst bit is scraping the poo off the nappy liner (sorry if anyone is eating!)

I found cloth nappies far less hassle than disposables.

I used terry nappies. It’s an easy routine to get in to with a bit of application & aforethought. I used nappy liners and just lifted the contents away into the loo. My baby never got nappy rash which I think was avoided because I washed her properly at every nappy change, & given my time over again, I’d do the same.

why can't there be clinical waste bins for feminine and nappies etc? it is a service offered so if we have to pay, why not via a service that is already offered?

Plenty of eco conscious mums use reusable or eco friendly disposables. If Henry VIII had been in disposables they would still be in the ground. Definitely encourage reusables, reduce the price of the biodegradeables, and tax the eco unfriendly ones.

Nappy services could make a killing. Provide clean nappies each week. Provide a 'smell free' container for the dirties. Take away when delivering the clean ones.

It was a service around in the 80's. Would be the best of both worlds now too.

As much as I am against disposables I understand why mums use them but thank goodness there are environmentally friendly brands out there.

moralfibres.co.uk/eco-friendly-disposable-nappies/

But it’s not just nappies for babies is it? What about all the ‘products’ for women of all ages? They are very similar just not so bulky.

My DD has just worked up to the last minute in the thick it.
She uses eco cloth nappies as do many of her friends. They're all the rage & very pretty these days.
We went travelling with her first, with only cabin baggage - it's certainly do-able.

Yes I would imagine that today's cloth nappies are far removed from the thick terry towelling we used in the 60s and 70s.
So many things to consider with this as Galaxy said.

Surely it's just the plastic bit of the disposables that is environmentally unfriendly.

Apologies - posted too soon.
My dog's poo bags are biodegradable and I promise you, they're waterproof.

(And the reusable ones use a lot of hot water.)

My dd used cloth nappies for her 3rd but after about 6 months found that they weren’t absorbent or ‘containing’ enough. And TBH with 2 other quite little ones she always had mountains of washing anyway.

I seem to recall that even with 2 of the good old terry nappies at night, folded into the ‘kite shape’, my dd1 was still sodden in the morning, so I’m not sure how the much smaller new cloth nappies would have coped.