Monday, October 20, 2008

What to do with Mr. Poopy Pants?

For some bizarre reason we have always used the name nappie, instead of the American "diaper" so I got a kick out of this article out of London. I honestly tried to do the cloth diaper thing many years ago, but living in the Italian hotel for a month with a washer that would only hold 8 pieces of clothing and no dryer quickly squashed my enthusiasm.

A government report that found old-fashioned reusable nappies damage the environment more than disposables has been hushed up because ministers are embarrassed by its findings.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has instructed civil servants not to publicise the conclusions of the £50,000 nappy research project and to adopt a “defensive” stance towards its conclusions.
The report found that using washable nappies, hailed by councils throughout Britain as a key way of saving the planet, have a higher carbon footprint than their disposable equivalents unless parents adopt an extreme approach to laundering them.
To reduce the impact of cloth nappies on climate change parents would have to hang wet nappies out to dry all year round, keep them for years for use on younger children, and make sure the water in their washing machines does not exceed 60C.
The conclusions will upset proponents of real nappies who have claimed they can help save the planet.
Restricted Whitehall documents, seen by The Sunday Times, show that the government is so concerned by the “negative laundry options” outlined in the report, it has told its media managers not to give its conclusions any publicity.

1 comment:

Michelle said...

My husband told me about this. Of course, they are ignoring the fact that disposable diapers go into a landfill and are not biodegradable.

I use both cloth and disposable and understand why people would choose either method, but it is ludicrous to suggest that the planet is better off when we create tons of garbage to put in a landfill. Yes, it takes water and energy to clean them, but surely any dolt can see with their eyes the benefit (from an ecological point of view).