07/09/2020
It’s and what better way to start the week that with lots of nappy facts.
🌍 On average each child will go through 3,796 nappies in their lifetime.
🌍 That’s 8 MILLION nappies per day in just the UK!
🌍 The total world consumption is estimated to be 1,375 million nappies every day.
🌍 3,796 clean single-use nappies weigh 169.5kg, this increases to over 500kg when used, and totals over half a million tons of waste in the UK every year.
🌍 Single-use nappies account for 4% of household waste.
🌍 4% of the solid waste & 30% of the non-biodegradable waste found in landfill comes from nappies.
🌍 The total cost for the disposal of nappies nationally is £40 million each year.
🌍 Seven million trees are cut down each year to supply paper pulp to make single-use nappies in the UK alone.
🌍 It takes 1 cup of crude oil to make the plastic for just one single-use nappy.
🌍 Per one ton of nappies, 16.92kg of packaging waste is produced.
🌍 It will take around 500 years for a single-use nappy to decompose, it creates greenhouse gas emissions, and releases methane into the air during this process.
🌍 Not one single-use nappy ever created has biodegraded yet.
🌍 Washing three loads of nappies a week uses about 200 litres of water.
🌍 Manufacturing enough single-use nappies for a week takes about 1550 litres of water.
🌍 This means that using single-use nappies uses nearly TEN TIMES more water than reusables.
So why should we consider reusable nappies? Surely, they are just as bad for the environment?
According to the updated lifecycle assessment study for disposable and reusable nappies carried out in 2008, reusable nappies can be up to 40% better for the environment. This figure is all down to you as a user. This means that if you tumble dry every day, wash at very high temperatures with a non-energy efficient machine, barely fill your machine and only use nappies for one child then the impact could be similar or even worse. However, if you line or air dry when possible, use an energy efficient machine, load correctly and use nappies on more than one child or, even better, buy preloved then you can make a HUGE difference to our environment.
Our image above shows the impact of just one year’s worth of single-use. Most children take around 2.5 years to potty train. Meaning that in reality, this pile would be over double the size! The reusable nappies are one size so would last most children until potty training.
This Zero Waste Week be part of the change. Swapping just one reusable nappy per day can save 890 single-use nappies going to landfill. Reusable nappies don’t need to be all or nothing. It’s not about a few people doing it perfectly. Everyone working together and doing it imperfectly will have a bigger impact.
For help making the change and to find out which reusable nappies we would recommend for your baby, complete our free questionnaire. https://tinyurl.com/y58p7zb6
📷 by Katy Warner Smith
