Reusable nappies ‘not’ more eco-friendly
The Environment Agency today said that reusable nappies were no more eco-friendly than disposables.
Both types of nappies impacted equally on the environment, with washables using energy from washing machines and dryers.
While disposable nappies create a massive 400,000 tonnes of waste each year in the UK, most of which is dumped on landfill sites, the EA said there was “little or nothing to choose” between the two products.
Tricia Henton, EA director of environmental protection, said: “We hope manufacturers of disposable nappies will use this study to improve the environmental performance of their products, particularly the quantities going to landfill.
However, the Women’s Environmental Network (WEN) argued that washable nappies were more eco-friendly because they save waste. Washing 24 reusable nappies at once in an A-rated environmentally-friendly washing machine at 60C would have 24 per cent less impact on global warming than the report EA’s report states, it claimed.
