Bummed out by disposables, many modern
mums love the cloth nappy, writes
Marie Teather.
Soft
as a
baby’s bottom
W
hen was the last
time you read the
small print on your
disposable nappies’
packaging? You see, disposable
nappies may not be as disposable
as you’ve been led to believe, and
it’s with this growing awareness of
the misconception of disposables, as
well as improved perception, design
and marketing of cloth nappies, that
reusables are now back in vogue.
Right there on the packaging
are guidelines telling users to throw
any solid waste down the toilet before
disposing of any disposable nappy.
The World Health Organization
has been advocating for this to be
standard practice since 1975 and, in
the US, the American Public Health
Association made it policy in 1989.
Yet our familiar nappy manufacturers
have not been drilling this message
home, it seems. And we’ve been all
too happy to roll up the used ones,
contents and all, and dump them in
the bin.
In an average year, your little
bundle of cuteness will create over
one ton of waste diapers – basically
the size of an elephant. And that
mammoth mountain of disposables
will undoubtedly end up in a landfill,
where it takes at least 500 years for
each nappy to decompose. Disposable?
Not so, it seems.
Still, while we do care about the
environment, it’s hard to translate
what may happen in 500 years to that
stinking nappy that desperately needs
changing – and disposing of – right
now. Disposables are so easy.
Yet a glance around Hong Kong’s
playrooms, where you’ll glimpse
the colourful, soft, and fashionable
nappies replacing the clinical, ugly
plastic disposables, suggests there is
a revolution of baby-bottom fashion
afoot.
Bottoms up
Victoria Kraun from Bloom and
Grow, a Hong Kong distributor
of international baby, infant and
maternity products, thinks so:
“They are definitely becoming more
popular as parents are making more
environmentally friendly purchasing
choices. Cloth diapers have evolved
so much since the day of securing a
terry cloth with a safety pin. They are
as easy to use as disposable diapers
and often come in much nicer designs,
colours and patterns.”
Then there is the cost factor. In an
average year, a baby will use between
3,000 and 3,500 disposable nappies,
which means you could spend up to
$6,500 on disposables. Have more
than one child and that’s a lot of money
you are flushing down the toilet.
Victoria adds, “In Hong Kong,
you’d save $4,939 when using
Bambino Mio cloth diapers compared
to a leading disposable brand – this is
a massive saving. Obviously it’s a lot
more [of a saving] if you use them for
your second child as well.”
But if disposables have always
been expensive, why the change to
reusable nappies now?
November 2013
73
