When I was pregnant with Liz, a friend at church bought me a pack of pristine white terry nappies. These were used, washed and worn - and then used for Steph. And I kept them- still as good as new, soft and fluffy. By the time Rosie was on the way, life had changed. The majority of young Mums were going back to work, and nappies fell into two groups - the disposable ones, and the neatly shaped pads which fitted into waterproof outers. The Internet was full of DIY patterns to convert your old squares into these reusables. But my grandchildren didn't need them.If your child goes to a nursery, you have no choice- they will only take babies in disposables. That's hard for Mums who are trying to be green and eco-friendly. There are around three billion nappies thrown away in the UK every year, weighing 500,000 tons. A baby will use around 5K nappies before being fully toilet trained.
However, a project began in Italy a few years ago, supported by Proctor and Gamble, makers of 'Pampers' to recycle nappies. The absorbent material is turned into cat litter, other parts are turned into paper and plastic. And there are no nasty smells once it is all done!
And now, I am thrilled to discover that a Welsh company called NappiCycle is working to collect used nappies, and recycle them into a new fibre. This fibre, mixed with bitumen makes road surfaces stronger and longer lasting. It is greener - and it is made in the UK, thus reducing imports of other road-strengtheners from abroad.[full BBC story here]This all seems like intelligent progress being made.
But I wonder where these nappy-lined roads are being built?
In new streets like "Diaper Drive" and "Pampers Parade" - or old Dorset villages like Piddlehinton and Piddletrenthide - or just by the House at Pooh Corner?
Disposable nappies really are an eco disaster as I read once that they'd take 200 years to decompose properly or something like that. I know a few people using reusable ones which is fab but yes, if miseries won't take them, then a reuse solution is super Welcome!
ReplyDeleteI'm amused that your autocorrect has changed "nurseries" to "miseries". Pleased to report that the nurseries my daughters use in London and Manchester are very happy places, where my grandchildren thrive.
DeleteWhat a brilliant idea!
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DeleteI had recently read about the use in road surfacing. I love your road name suggestions, etc.
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DeleteThe street names made me smile. For most of the time, son was in reusables. They were the shaped pads, but they were amazing and I passed them on afterwards. They weren't much trouble if you set up a system.
ReplyDeleteI think reusable are really good if you can manage them
DeleteOur grand daughter is in cloth nappies and her nursery is fine with them. I didn't realise nurseries generally say no to cloth nappies.
ReplyDeleteI suppose a nursery that has a lot of children would find it hard to accommodate 35 personal nappy buckets - and all the laundry issues attached.
DeleteSince they are called diapers, over here, may I suggest "Diaper Lane" and "Huggies Avenue" (Huggies are another diaper manufacturer)?
ReplyDeleteGreat Street names! We have Huggies here too
DeleteThe pre school I worked at for 10 years was happy for people to use whichever nappies they preferred but in all that time only one child used cloth nappies!
ReplyDeleteHow did they manage the laundry?
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