Why Use Cloth
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Environment Factors
There have been many discussions & opinions as to which is better for the environment - Cloth or Disposables? When looking at the environmental impact of disposables & cloth nappies it is very important to look beyond just what you see. Understanding what the full life cycle is for a nappy from production to disposal of it. Remember to take into account the manufacturing, cultivation, transporting products required & waste impact. A reuseable product is more environmentally friendly than an item that is used once for a few hours & then thrown away. Disposable nappies take hundreds of years to decompose & approximately 734kg of solid waste goes into landfill from 1 child using on average 6 disposables a day over 2.5 years. Did you also know that throughout Australia & New Zealand alone there is approximately 3.75 Million disposable nappies disposed of into our ground every single day. Just think about how many millions & millions are disposed of daily world wide!
Another thing to consider is, how many people do you know throw a disposable nappy straight in the bin with the poo still in it? All poo should be scrapped from the nappy (disposable or cloth) & flushed down the toilet , not disposed of in a bin to later end up as land fill.
As we all know water is very precious & we are currently going through a drought. Conserving water is very important. Having said this, at production stage disposables produce 2.3 times more water waste than cloth nappies washed for a year. Did you know that some of the disposable nappies are made here is Australia (which means water from Australia is used to produce them). A subsequent study conducted by Landbank Consultancy in 1991 found the following
Impact Per Infant Per Year
| Cloth | Disposables | Impact Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Energy | 2532MJ | 8900MJ | 3.5x |
| Waste Water | 12.4 cubic metres | 28 cubic metres | 2.3x |
| Raw Materials Renewable | 25kg | 208kg | 8.3x |
| Raw Materials No Renewable | 4kg | 361kg | 90x |
| Domestic Solid Waste | 4kg | 240kg | 60x |
| Land For Raw Materials | 1,150 - 6,800ha | 29,500 - 32,300ha | 4-30x |