Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Happy throw-away nappy news

Parents can now use you the ever-so convenient, hygienic, better-fitting and safe disposable nappies conscience free;

The announcement in the UK of a Government U-turn on their support for cloth nappies is a victory for parental choice according to the manufacturers of Huggies nappies Kimberly-Clark.

The decision follows a four-year research project at a cost of millions of pounds which found that the impact of burying disposable nappies in landfill sites was matched by the energy consumed and greenhouse gases generated by washing reusables or transporting them to laundries.


The Greens got it wrong again.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This comment seems harsh to me. In the UK we have a major problem with the amount of waste going into landfill (holes in the ground). We are second worst in Europe, it is a crowded island, ands soon EU penalities will apply resulting in very large fines. Yes, nappy washing/laundry transport uses energy - but comparing that with issues around landfill is not straightforward. Your "greens got it wrong again" rather belies the complexity of the situation I think.

Chaucey said...

This UK study doesn't compare with current cloth nappy use in New Zealand. For starters, it had assumptions like always doing very hot washes, using lots of chemicals in the wash, using a dryer for every load and even IRONING the nappies.
My baby uses modern style cloth nappies and they can be cold or warm washed, normal washing powder, line dried and no need for ironing. You don't even need to soak them.
So I don't think that this study from the UK has relevance to nappy users here.