Are reusable nappies better for the environment than disposable nappies?

Please note this article was published in May 2020 and there is new research findings published in March 2023.

new lifecycle assessment publishing in March 2023

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new lifecycle assessment publishing in March 2023 〰️

The below article was published in May 2020 and therefore does not reference the 2023 report: ‘An updated lifecycle assessment study for disposable and reusable nappies’

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Let’s answer the environmental cloth nappy debate once and for all

If you type ‘Are reusable nappies better for the environment than disposable nappies?’ into a search engine, the answer that comes back is effectively, no. The top four responses to this search phrase on Google are articles dated from 2018. They all reference a report published by the Environment Agency from 2005.

An updated lifecycle assessment for disposable and reusable nappies, published by the Environment Agency is controversial. It concluded that reusable nappies, in a global warming impact, had a greater carbon dioxide equivalent by 20kg more than in disposables (per child year)[1]. How my heart sank when I first read that.

And that is the problem. One line is all it takes to undo years of positive work. One ‘no’ without the reader seeing the caveats, the footnotes, or the exceptions. The page turns and a journey stops before it has a chance to step forward. I hope to change that here.

What did the Environment Agency’s Life Cycle Assessment of Disposable and Reusable Nappies in the UK say - in a nutshell?

In my guest talk for the Sustainable(ish) Online Festival, I dipped my toe into the how eco are reusable nappies? debate. I only had a small window to show I had done my research and could make an informed counterargument. (I could have said so much more.) This is how I detailed the crux of the EA’s report and how I believe they got it wrong. There is better news to follow.

What is the environmental impact of reusable baby nappies?

“On average you change baby’s nappy six times a day. That’s 42 nappies in one week or 180 in 30 days or 2,190 times in a year. Those disposable nappies have to go somewhere and they usually get sent to incineration or landfill. That is a lot of plastic floating around. But despite the knowledge that millions of nappies are disposed of in this way each year, the Environment Agency’s 2005 report still concluded that cloth nappies have a greater negative impact on the environment than disposable nappies. And they got it wrong.

The EA looked at how disposables are manufactured and disposed of, but only how reusables are cared for. And part of the care included tumble drying nappies - that you would be tumble drying three, four times a week, always washing at 60 degrees. Or 90 degrees, if you fancy it.

The Women’s Environmental Network was involved in that report but did not see it before it was published. They then submitted a memorandum to Parliament[2] disputing the EA’s conclusion in the report and “the impact its conclusion would have on consumer behaviour”. Let me tell you why.

You can not put a modern cloth nappy with a PUL wrap in a tumble dryer. Or wash it at 90 degrees. The PUL will melt and render it useless. In a whole year, I have never tumble dried any of my nappies. Some manufacturers may say it’s safe to do, particularly with inserts / boosters, but I do not. I am aware tumble driers don’t have great environmental statistics and I’m using cloth nappies for sustainable lifestyle reasons - I want to have as low a footprint as possible and tumble drying is not conducive to that. Some people also choose to only wash nappies at 40 degrees using a nappy sanitising powder.

Since 2005, we need to remember that the fabric choices we have now in 2020 are very different. Take bamboo. Bamboo is incredibly fast growing and has a much lower environmental impact in its growth than cotton - the traditional fabric choice for terry towelling nappies. We now also have organic cotton, being produced with no insecticides or pesticides harming the farmers growing the plant. Despite the report still being touted as the go-to guide, I think we all need to bear in mind that 2005 was fifteen years ago.”

It was at this point, my time was up and I concluded my speech. What comes next is what I wish I’d shared…

I have good news.

Are reusable nappies still as bad for the planet in 2020 as they were deemed in 2005?

In February 2020, Zero Waste Europe, a Brussels based NGO supported by the LIFE Programme of the European Union, published a (very necessary) report. As a sidenote, Marta Stencel, Environmenstrual Campaign Officer for the Women’s Environmental Network was one of the report reviewers.

These topline facts will answer the question we are all desperate to put to bed at last: Are reusable nappies more ‘eco friendly’ than disposable nappies?

The short answer: hell yes.

Zero Waste Europe: Policy recommendations to make menstrual products, nappies and wet wipes circular[3]

The report was written in 2017 (published February 2020) and considered 28 EU Member States. It looks at: ‘[…]the impact of single-use menstrual items, wet wipes and baby nappies on the environment; including from the extraction of natural resources for their production, from greenhouse gas emissions, and/or from the pollution caused by the leakage of these products into the environment - especially on soil, beaches and seas during their disposal, and those generated by the waste management and treatment.’[4] A far wider remit of analysis since 2005, I’m sure you’ll agree. They also consider the costs borne by public administrations and the consumers, which includes the collection, management and treatment of waste and associated public sewage issues. They concluded the following:

On Waste Generation

‘[…] single-use baby nappies use 20 times more land for production of raw materials and require three times more energy to make than baby cloth nappies.’[5]

‘[…] , in 2017, it was estimated that 6.7 million tonnes of single-use nappies were generated in the EU-28. According to accepted statistics, the average weight of each of these nappies is around 200g (after being used). Each child can therefore be assumed to produce 438kg of dirty nappies annually - meaning that around 1 tonne of waste is produced for each child after two and a half years.’[6]

‘[…] the decomposition of the organic matter may cause groundwater and soil contamination due to the leaching of organic components. It also produces landfill gases such as methane and CO2 , both of which are potent greenhouse gases which exacerbate climate change.’[7]

On Waste Prevention

‘[…] a family that chooses reusable baby nappies can also save about 99% of the waste that would be generated by using single-use ones. If only 20% of babies using nappies switched to reusables, the amount of waste that could be prevented in the EU-28 would be more than 1 million tonnes each year.’[8]

‘This potential waste reduction can be translated into [...] a reduction in the costs coming from removing waste from beaches and seas, as litter and sewage related debris would be reduced.’[9]

Financial incentives

‘[…] the use of reusable nappies results in savings between €200 to €2,000 per family compared to single use ones. The saving increases if you take into account the fact that reusable baby nappies can be used by different siblings or bought second-hand.’[10]

Supporting statistics taken from other sources:

“it takes over 1,500 litres of crude oil to produce enough single-use nappies for a newborn baby until they become potty trained (at 2.5 years).”[11]

‘[…] the production of single-use baby nappies has a greater environmental impact than its waste management.’[12]

Well wasn’t that a breath of fresh air.

Yes, reusable nappies are better for the environment than disposable baby nappies

If you are a cloth nappy user or considering making the switch to real nappies, then I hope you will be uplifted from these key statistics. After all, nothing changes if people aren’t galvanised to make a change. Rarely does that come from a set of black and white statistics. Maybe this time, it will.

And to end, I wanted to share my favourite empowering line from the report here:

“If a product cannot be reused, repaired, rebuilt, refurbished, refinished, resold, recycled or composted, it should be restricted, redesigned or removed from production.”[13]

What a dream.

What a world it could be.

Thank you so much for reading. Do comment with your thoughts below, or get in touch with me if you have any questions.

References

[1] Environment Agency (2005). Science Report – An updated lifecycle assessment study for disposable and reusable nappies. p.26. Available from https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/disposable-and-reusable-nappies-in-the-uk-life-cycle-assessment [Accessed 5 July 2019].

[2] Women’s Environment Network (2005). Memorandum. Available from https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmselect/cmenvfru/780/780we44.htm [Accessed 5 July 2019].

[3] Zero Waste Europe (2020). Policy recommendations to make menstrual products, nappies and wet wipes circular. Available from https://zerowasteeurope.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/zwe_existing_measures_policy_recommendations_to_minimise_the_impact_of_menstrual_products_nappies_wet_wipes.pdf [Accessed 20 May 2020].

[4] Ibid. p. 10

[5] Ibid. p. 49

[6] Ibid. p. 22

[7] Ibid. p. 29

[8] Ibid. p. 6

[9] Ibid. p. 50

[10] Ibid. p. 6

[11] Real nappies (2019). Environmental Impact of Nappies. Australia. Available from https://realnappies.com.au/blogs/news/environmental-impact-of-nappies-part-one [Accessed 20 May 2020]

[12] Cordella, M., Bauer, I., Lehmann, A., Schulz, M., Wolf, O. (2015). Evolution of disposable baby diapers in Europe: life cycle assessment of environmental impacts and identification of key areas of improvement. Elsevier. Journal of cleaner Productions. Volume 95: 322-331

[13] Zero Waste Europe (2020). Policy recommendations to make menstrual products, nappies and wet wipes circular. p.7. Available from https://zerowasteeurope.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/zwe_existing_measures_policy_recommendations_to_minimise_the_impact_of_menstrual_products_nappies_wet_wipes.pdf [Accessed 20 May 2020].

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