It’s Real Nappy Week and around the world people are talking about why they choose washable nappies for their babies.

Natural, soft and funky fabrics, cute colours and styles… Mums love them and you should hear how passionate they can get about them. Alpha mom is not alone in her view:

Let's start out with the obvious: cloth diapers are cute. CUTE. The are a super-cute accessory for - let's not lie - the cutest part of your baby's body. The colors! The little pants! The fuzzy interiors! The bootylicious shape! And did I mention the colors? 

You can go back and forth other the environmental impact of your diapering choices all you want, but there's no question that cloth beats everything else in the Adorability Department.

While mums may be choosing cloth nappies because they’re simply adorable the benefits spread beyond their babies.

So many disposable nappies are thrown away that this single product has its own category in UK household waste. So you have glass, metal, plastics, garden waste etc. and then disposable nappies all on their own. When you consider that this product is only used by babies in the first two to three years of their life, that’s really something. Disposable nappies create a large and avoidable mountain of waste.

But it is manufacturing the 5,000 nappies needed for a baby that causes most of their environmental impact: the fossil fuels, chemicals, paper pulp and energy used to create, transport and store large quantities of disposable nappies. Reducing their environmental impact is down to the manufacturer lowering their weight by intensifying the superabsorbent chemical content.  

By contrast the impact of the 24 cloth nappies needed for a baby, is mainly in how they are laundered. Real nappies put parents in control of their environmental impact. By adopting a simple routine, washing at 60 degrees in full loads, air drying nappies and reusing them on a second baby you can save up to 40% of their climate impact.

Cute and climate friendly real nappies, or high tech disposables. What would you choose for your baby?

By Biba Hartigan

Photo courtesy of www.somersetwaste.gov.uk