Real nappies reduce waste

It’s fair to say that hard pressed families with children could do with watching the pennies right now, and let’s face it, literally throwing away money is the last thing anyone would want to be doing.  But that’s exactly what parents who use disposable nappies are doing.

The odd tenner here and there on packets of nappies seems like it’s not a major cost, but have you ever actually sat down and added up the full cost of these regular purchases?
 
Well from birth to potty your baby will need about 5,000 nappy changes – so you’re talking about spending around £750 on disposable nappies alone!  So your decision on nappies will have a big impact on your wallet and the planet.  On average during that first two years a baby will produce a tonne of dirty nappies before they’re even potty trained!  And disposable nappies cost you twice, as a taxpayer you pay again to have them landfilled. Now that really adds up!

But it doesn’t have to be that way – you can use modern real washable cotton nappies instead. By using real nappies, you can reduce waste and save money. Of course you have to pay up front to buy the washable nappies and the liners (you can kit your baby out with all the real nappy gear they need from the high street for about £250).  Then you have to consider washing powder and ever rising electricity costs if you’re washing nappies a lot, but even when you factor this in you could still save £400 compared to buying disposables and double that if you re-use the kit again on a second baby.

Analysis of what’s in our bins in Shropshire has shown that disposable nappies make up about 4% of total household waste.  This means an incredible 6,000 tonnes of disposable nappies end up buried in landfill sites in Shropshire every year.
 
So if you want to help tackle this waste mountain and save yourself some money then contact the Real Nappy Advisory Service via their website http://www.goreal.org.uk/