Joanne Hunt writes a fabulous piece about Cloth Nappies in the Irish Times edition of 10th November 2024.
"If you are having a baby, prepare to spend a small fortune on disposable nappies. Some county councils estimate that children will use up 5,000 nappies until potty-trained. With individual nappies costing up to 27 cent each, that’s about €500 a year you’re putting in the bin.
Add nappy sacks, wipes and bin charges to dispose of the 1,750kg of domestic waste generated and that’s quite a big outlay in the early years of your child’s life.
In Ireland 1.2 million disposable nappies go into landfill every day – that’s more than 430 million single-use nappies annually. These end up either incinerated or sent to landfill and can take up to 500 years to break down, according to the nationwide not-for-profit Cloth Nappy Library. It wants to make cloth nappies mainstream by enabling parents to borrow them, and get local support trying them out.
If you are thinking big terry cloth squares and giant safety pins, think again. The modern cloth nappy is designed to be as easy to use as a disposable nappy. It looks pretty cute, too. But surely cloth nappies are loads more work? Parents up half the night with a young baby might not feel like taking on extra tasks. Putting a disposable nappy into a sack, putting the sack in a bin and taking the bin to the end of the drive seems manageable. Yes, it’s a different drill with cloth nappies, but the cost savings and environmental benefits are compelling."
