Which is more environmentally friendly? Washable or disposable nappies?

Which is more environmentally friendly? A washable nappy or disposable nappy? This argument has reached the same contention levels as the of breastfeeding versus formula debate. Fortunately, The enviroment Agency has conducted research revealing the answer.

In 2006, the Environment Agency updated their Life Cycle Assessment of Disposable and Reusable Nappies in the UK. They assessed the scale of the environmental impact of both nappies taking changes by manufacturer,s consumers and new trends in the market into consideration.

The study, based its findings on a child using nappies for the first two-and-a-half years of its life.

It found that disposable nappies would result in a global warming impact of 550kg of carbon dioxide equivalents used over 30 months. This impact is higher than that of filling landfill sites. The amount of global warming has decreased since the previous study due to nappies getting 13.5 per cent lighter.

But reusable nappies were found to produce a global warming impact of 570kg of carbon dioxide equivalents based on an average washer and drier use. The impact for reusable nappies was found to be highly dependant on the way they are washed.

Families washing nappies as part of a larger load and drying them on the washing line every time, could reduce this figure by 16 per cent. If the nappies were also reused on a second child, the global warming impact could be reduced by a total 40 per cent.
But if nappies are tumble dried, they will increase the global warming impact by a whopping 43 per cent.

Washing nappies at 90 °C  instead of 60°C  increases the impact by 31 per cent and combining washing at a high temperature and tumble drying takes the global warming impact up to a massive 75 per cent above the baseline 570kg.

The environmental impact of using washable nappies is higher than using disposables. But if they are laundered sensibly they can be much lower.

To keep the enviromental impact down, washable nappy users should:

Line dry nappies
Tumble dry as little as possible
Not wash above 60°C
Make sure washing machines are A+ energy efficient
Have fuller washing loads
Reuse washables on subsequent children.

http://publications.environment-agency.gov.uk/pdf/SCHO0808BOIR-e-e.pdf