Responsible Use of Disposable Nappies

The last Choice Magazine Survey revealed that 86% of the 250,000 babies born every year in Australia wear a disposable nappy part-time or full-time. Considering that one baby can fill your entire house with all the nappies they can wear in their lifetime, that’s a lot of waste!

Here’s how you can make a difference

1 - Bag it right!
Use brown paper bags or biodegradable nappy bags. Placing your disposable nappy inside a plastic bag adds 50+ years to a product that is already taking 150+ years to break down.

2 - Put poo in the loo!
Always use a flushable or cloth nappy liner inside your disposable nappy. This allows you to easily toss poo in the loo. Human Waste is dealt with efficiently in sewers, compost toilets and septic tanks all over the country. This system is responsible for our high levels of healthy sanitation.

With a vaccination rate of 80% in Australia, that’s a lot of poo being placed in bins that may carry live vaccines. If you take a good look at the instructions on a packet of disposable nappies, you will see they describe how you should deal with faeces legally. By placing them down the toilet. This legally covers the company selling the nappy but doesn’t cover you if you get caught throwing poo in the bin!

3 - Protect their Skin
Many babies suffer from extreme nappy rash that is actually chemical burn from disposable nappies. If your baby shows signs of redness that will not go away, the best option it to use cloth nappies. If you need to use disposables, place an organic cotton or other cloth barrier in your disposable nappy.

A cloth barrier also stops gel contacting their skin when your baby has done a heavy wee or if you have left the nappy on too long. The effect of these gels on your babies skin has not been established though research is being carried out into the effects of gel in disposable nappies, so give your baby that extra barrier to be sure! A Dri-Liner will also help keep your babies skin dry overnight when used with your disposable. If your child is consistently red from nappies it may be chemical burn and you should stop using disposables immediately.

4 - Composting
First remove the outer cover that is not biodegradable. Remove plastic tabs. Place these in your waste bin or recycling for disposal. These parts of the nappy cannot compost. Dispose of faeces in the toilet. Then scatter the cotton in your compost or dig a hole and bury the waste if you have land.

5 - Eco - Disposables
Brands classified as eco-disposable are not biodegradable, despite what you have been led to believe. Eco-disposables definitely make a big and better impact for our environment. They are chlorine free which means no dioxins will leach into our land after disposal. They often have less chemicals or no gel at all which greatly improve any health risk to your baby. There are many other pluses for choosing an eco-disposable nappy that you can read on company websites.

6 - Read the Packaging
What are you really buying? Read every instruction and ingredient on the product you buy. The instructions are there to help you dispose of the product safely and learn about what is really going against your babies’ genitals every day. Don’t be easily fooled by eco-packaging. We are going to see more and more of misleading products on the market. You need to be discerning computer with the trend in organics and eco-products. Get your facts and be careful of marketing hype. Get the right advice, not just any advice.

7 - What don’t we know?
What affect does the super absorbent gels have our babies health or how long does it really takes for a disposable nappy to break down? The first disposable nappy that was invented in 1947 and still hasn’t broken down. There is no independent proof of how long it really takes. The only attempt at measuring it was started 15 years ago. That nappy still has a long way to go!

8 - What is the Cost?
The cost to our health, community and environment has never been accurately measured. The cost in our pocket we do know! Disposable Nappies cost you up to $5000 for one child, it depends on the brand you use and where you shop. So you can spend a lot less than this if you are diligent. But…add disposable baby wipes, bibs, face wipes, change mats, swimmers and a range of other disposable products to this cost as well and you are spending well beyond $5000 per child, no matter how diligent with spending you are. If you use cloth part time, think about what you would do with a spare $4000?

Discard of this article responsibly too! Give it to a friend. Thank You.

For more info go to www.natureschild.com