Cloth nappies and ecology – is it really eco-friendly?

Cloth nappies and ecology – most of our customers claim that it’s the main reason why they use cloth nappies. It’s pretty simple – instead of producing a bag of waste every day, you buy a Complete Nappy Set that fits in just one (washable and reusable) bag and that’s all the nappies you’ll ever need for your baby. You save your money and the environment at the same time. 

Just for the effect, let’s make it visual. 

 

Do you prefer this?	Or this?

 

But first, hard data. According to them, a disposable nappy (a conventional one, not biodegradable) will fully decompose in a few hundred years. If only disposables are used, one cute little baby will produce about a ton of non-biodegradable waste in the form of soiled nappies. That means that in the first 2-3 years of a just-begun life, a baby’s ecological footprint is huuuge. Original environmental sin right at the start.

That’s why we think every not-used disposable nappy is good news for the environment.It’s not a irreconcilable „disposables OR cloth“ battle. We definitely do not think that everyone should use cloth under any circumstances! It’s not „I don’t do it 24/7 so I better not do it at all“. Every nappy counts!

That’s all very nice but can you do the math?

Well, of course! In 2017, Bamboolik has sold nappies that would make for almost a thousand of our Complete Sets. That means a thousand babies can enjoy the comfort of exclusively cloth nappies and never feel the touch of a disposable on their skin (in theory). A thousand babies will not use 6 nappies a day for a whole year, which means….. drumroll, please …… in 2017, approximately 2 190 000 disposables were not used. Thanks to Bamboolik.

Just for the effect, let’s do the numbers for the last two years (2016 + 2017). We arrive at a breath-taking number of 4,3 millions of disposables that were not used. Thanks to Bamboolik. Woho. That’s a big pile.

About this big:

What exactly is your point?

In case you’re wondering whether it makes sense to buy a few colourful cloth nappies just for fun and give it a try: It’s worth it, just remember the numbers! Or use the numbers in self-defence when you hear things like „cloth nappies are history, can’t you afford disposables?“ or „it can’t be THAT ecological, you have to WASH them!“. By the way, washing: The amount of water you actually use while washing nappies is quite minimal. Plus, we have to bear in mind that the water does not perish when you use it. It goes back to the eco-system, soiled, but it goes back! To use water, clean it and return it to the eco-system is way less an environmental crime than throwing away a soiled nappy that will take hundreds of years to decompose. Something like stealing a piece of cheese from a supermarket versus robbing a bank. You get the idea. 

So that has been our point. Do you agree?

Just for the effect, once more: EVERY NAPPY COUNTS.