These days, everything that is remotely considered green, sustainable or eco-friendly is labeled as ‘alternative’.
When you think about it, the way our parents and grandparents lived can be described as what today would be considered ‘alternative’. For example:
- making furniture out of reclaimed wood;
- utilising reusable shopping bags;
- growing your own fruit and veg;
- buying milk in glass bottles;
- using cloth nappies for babies.
The list goes on.
But should these ways of living really be the alternative?
In one generation, mass produced products have come into our lives and imposed themselves onto us so much so that we now consider these as the norm. In one generation, we have managed to create heaps of throwaway, convenience items that will litter our planet for hundreds of years to come. We have shunned aside and labeled the more sustainable ways of living as something only a few would consider and made it out as if this sort of lifestyle could only be sustained by those who have time on their hands.
Since starting The Cloth Nappy Company we have spoken to many people and a lot of the concerns that we hear centre around the perception that using cloth nappies would take a lot more time and effort than the throwaway plastic alternative.
What most still don’t realise is that modern cloth nappies have come a long way from the white towels and safety pins that our grandparents had to use. They are now manufactured in a way that makes them perfect for our fast-paced lifestyles. All you need to do is throw the dirty nappies into a modern washing machine that will do all the work. There is no more work involved than if you’re taking smelly bins out for collection. Modern cloth nappies are really as easy and quick to use as disposables.
While writing this article, I made a quick calculation and it shows that in Malta alone our babies go through 24 million disposable nappies a year! Each disposable nappy takes around 500 years to decompose. And that huge number is for one small nation. Worldwide 450 billion disposable nappies are thrown away every year.
Through our free campaigns, The Cloth Nappy Company is aiming to educate parents in Malta about the ‘alternative’ to disposables. It has been so encouraging to see that a lot of parents are already choosing to embrace reusable nappies. You don’t have to commit fully from the start. The good thing is that you can use cloth nappies even part-time. If you were to replace just one disposable nappy a day with a reusable one, you would be saving around 900 nappies from going to landfill.
Instead of buying and throwing away 6,000 single-use nappies, you can be utilising just 20 reusable nappies for your baby. And when your little one is potty trained, you can use these for your next child or pass them on to family and friends.
We all know that new babies add a lot of new items to every household. Reusable cloth nappies can be one way in which we can start improving our children’s environmental impact. No one is too small to make a difference. Especially not our little ones!
