Jane Powerson nappies.
First, a disclaimer: this edition of Planet Matters is as theoretical as you can get. In other words, I have little "hands-on" experience of the subject, which is nappies (not having been blessed with offspring), but, nonetheless, I'm doing my best here to plunge fearlessly into the world of babies' bottoms.
The war of the nappies is keenly fought, with the proponents of disposables on one side, and the cloth-waving advocates on the other. And that's no surprise, because with a baby requiring around 4,500 nappy changes in the first two-and-a-half years of its life, those nappies are big business.
Conventional disposable nappies are hard on the environment, both in the manufacturing and when they are tossed into landfill (of all domestic waste in Ireland, as much as 5 per cent is nappies). Chlorine bleach is used to whiten the wood pulp from which they are made, plastic (made from non-renewable oil) is used for linings, and non-degradable sodium polyacrylate crystals are included to absorb moisture. Perfumes, optical brighteners and lotions may also be incorporated.
Yet, one of the greatest impacts of the disposable nappy is the nearly unspoken one: that the contents are also added to landfill. Now, look away if you're squeamish, but according to a report by the UK Environment Agency, an infant's typical two-and-a-half years' worth of nappies can hold 254 to 633 litres of urine and 48 to 97 kilogrammes of faeces. All that pathogen-rich organic material puts heavy emission and leachate loads on landfill.
Disposable "eco-nappies" are bleach-free, and are made with a high proportion of sustainable materials. The leading brand in Ireland, Moltex nappies, are not fully biodegradable, but they can still be composted (a wormery is most efficient), and the leftover plastic bits can be removed at the end of the process.
Not surprisingly, many county councils are eager to see people switching to cloth nappies, and the contents being flushed down the toilet, where they can be dealt with properly. Cloth nappies have moved on since the days of barbarous pins and horrifically-scrunching plastic pants, and come in a baby-friendly array of shapes and formats (see www.ecoshop.ie, www.naturesnursery.ie, www.thebabyorchard.com). Organic cotton, hemp and bamboo fibre are kinder to the environment than conventionally-farmed cotton, which requires enormous inputs of pesticides. Cloth nappies last for years, although the amount of water, energy, detergent and sanitiser that it takes to clean them is considerable. However, because they may be re-used indefinitely, their nappy miles are minimal, compared with those of disposables, which may travel hundreds of miles for a single use.
Of course, the truly environmentally-aware parent might choose a third option: the nappy-free baby. Babies give clear signs when they need to "go", and, apparently, it is just a matter of learning to read those signs and taking swift action (gently removing baby to an appropriate place and holding it so that it can safely and cleanly do what it wants to do). The method is practised by mothers in developing countries, and by a growing number of people in the rest of the world (see www.natural-wisdom.com). "Elimination communication",
as it's known, is unlikely to catch on here, but if it does, you'll think twice about leaving your toothbrush in the sink.