There are many reasons for choosing moden cloth nappies, financial, environmental and to reduce chemicals on your babies delicate skin.
Show me the MONEY!!! Love it or hate it we need it. Who needs the added burden of using disposables? As the cost of oil continues to climb so to will all petroleum products. Disposables have a place but cloth nappies save you money! Money to enjoy elsewhere!
Disposable nappies use super absorbant gels that contain sodium polyacrylate crystals which react to urine to soak up moisture, its important to think about what is inside that disposable nappy and what actually ends up next to your babies skin. What are the long term affects of such an extreme dryness on babies thin skin?
Save the world! Perhaps its the impact we have on earth and the legacy you start your child's life off with. EVERY disposable nappy EVER used ANYWHERE in the world is STILL HERE! With cloth their impact is greatly reduced when you look at the 'costs' of making and disposing of disposable nappies. They are still in the landfill when the baby has grandchildren! When do we stop digging holes to fill up with rubbish?
Reference from:
The cost of disposables>>
In NZ, about 575 million "disposable" nappies are used every year (=10M per week)
More facts:
It takes one full cup of crude oil to make the plastic for each "disposable" nappy. |
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It takes 4.5 trees to make the pulp used in "disposable" nappies for
one baby over 2 1/2 years ( 1.3 million trees for NZ babies) |
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"Disposable" nappies use 3.5 times more energy, 8 times more non-renewable raw materials,
90 times more renewable materials than washable nappies. It takes as much energy to produce one throwaway nappy as it does to wash a cloth nappy 200 times. |
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"Disposables" produce 2.3 times more waste water (at the production stage) and 60 times more solid waste than washable nappies – one baby in disposables will produce 2 tonnes of solid waste! |
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In a household with one baby, "disposables" will make up 50% of total household waste. Just one single item, "disposables", make up 6% of total waste in Wellington |
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Over the lifetime of a nappy-wearing child, you will use about 6,000
"disposables", at an average cost of say $0.45 = $2,700. |
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If your child uses more nappies, the cost increases eg: 6,500 "disposables" will cost $4,050. |
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If you chose to use a nappy wrapper and preserve your child's poos for eternity, the total cost escalates to $3,550. |
** these figures aren't even including disposable wipes, plastic bags etc**
The cost of cloth nappies
Every parent and their baby is different, you decide how often your baby needs to be changed so below gives you an idea into numbers of all-in-ones required. Sizes are approximate and all babies differ.
Size: Small 3.6kg - 6.5kg approx 1 - 4mths8 - 12 changes a day
Depending on how regularly you want to wash!
16 - 18 aio @ $26 each = $416 - $468 (Buy in bulk and save 10% )
Size: Medium 5.5/6kg - 11kg approx 3 - 15mths+6 - 9 changes a day - every 2 hours from 7am to 9pm
12 - 18 aio @ $27 each = $324 - $486 (Buy in bulk and save 10% )
Size Large 10kg - 14kg+ approx 15mths+5 -7 changes a day
10 - 14 aio @ $28 each = $280 - $392 (Buy in bulk and save 10%)
Cost of washing $50 - $200 p.a (approx) add more if using a dryer regularly
Total cost 38 - 50 AIO's $1020 - $1346 or buy cloth nappy packages (saving more than 10%) for $918 - $1211. If used for subsequent children the savings increase significantly! Use disposables and they will cost you $2500 PER CHILD!*The; frequency of changing babies are up to the individual these figures are just to supply an 'idea' in regards to numbers and costs involved**
*** These are all approximate costings taken from the zerowaste website to give you an 'idea' about the 'cost' of disposables***
http://www.rwh.org.au/wellwomens/whic.cfm?doc_id=7691
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