Can you believe that currently in the UK about eight million disposable nappies are thrown
away each day, which accounts for about three percent of our household
waste. (Check out more details here: http://www.veoliaenvironmentalservices.co.uk/westberkshire/Waste-Minimisation/Real-Nappies-The-facts/)
So since starting on our nappy journey over 5 years ago, I invested in terry nappies (simple squares), nappy nippers (a modern version of the safety pin that doesn't go through the nappy) and bamboo wipes. And both kids have used these, with the exception of holidays when I can't face or fit nappy pails in the boot of the car. However, I did slack off when my youngest dropped down to just night nappies (seven nappies to wash per week seemed mad).
But since the start of the year I've gone back to the terries for his bedtime nappy, and I just wash them every other week, which works fine.
I've even attempted to use the eco balls on them, as they are only wet nappies, and amazingly they work just fine.
Back in 2012 when I weighed our waste before starting on the journey of reducing it, night nappies alone in a week weighed 4kg, and probably took up about half a carrier bag of space. So I'm glad I've gone back to terries, and I'm hoping he'll be out of them soon anyway.
...I can't quite believe it, but the whole of our household's general waste this week did fit in that one carrier bag! Even our recycling bin was pretty empty as I'm being better at using the back of paper/card etc before it goes in there, and we've elimiated all the plastic milk bottles. Am quite astonished, although one week is just one week...so let's see how the next few weeks go...birthday wrapping paper from others could scupper it all!
P.S. This didn't last for long in the gales, so ended up buried under the neighbours black sack pile :-) (And if anyone local has a outside dustbin that they no longer use, I'd love to give it a home, so we can eliminate the need for the plastic bag too!)
