With the imminent arrival of our second son we recently ventured into the loft to locate all the baby equipment. Tucked away was the bag of non disposable nappies we had conscientiously bought near to the birth of our first son. But finding this bag only served to remind us how we had failed miserably to follow our good intentions as the majority of the nappies remained in unopened packets.

We had come up with "good excuses" as to why we hadn't used the non disposable option – we were new, inexperienced parents venturing into un-chartered territory, the challenge of feeding and changing was difficult enough without the added stress of washing nappies. But in reality we know that this choice has had a serious impact on the environment.

Apparently around nine million disposable nappies are thrown away each day in the UK alone. During the lifetime of our first son we have used about 4,500 nappies in 2½ years. Disposable nappies make up 4% of all household waste.

So venturing again into the sleepless nights and endless feeding and changing cycle are we going to do any better this time round? I hope so, and plan to. Environmental issues are maybe not the immediate concern at 3am to a new parent, but every parent would like a healthy world for their child to grow up in. The performance of new non disposable nappies affords a responsible alternative to the damaging environmental impact of disposable nappies. It just requires a bit more effort.
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victoria