The Dirty Lowdown on Disposable Nappies

Consider these facts when buying disposable nappies:
  

-                Nappies are the third most common item, by volume and weight, in American, UK, European, Japanese and Australian landfills.

-                According to Choice consumer magazine, 95% of Australian babies wore disposable nappies in 2007. In China, only 6% do, in India 2%.

-                It takes over 10 full sized trees to produce the number of nappies your baby will use in its first couple of years.

-                Production of a single disposable nappy requires 2/3 of a cup of petroleum. This adds up to over 3 billion gallons (1134 billion litres of oil) per year dedicated to disposable nappy production.

-                According to 2003 figures from the Women’s Environment Network, it takes on average 22,250 MJ of energy, 75,000 ha of land for raw materials and 70 cubic metres of waste water is needed to manufacture enough disposable nappies for just one infant over the course of 2½ years.

-                The estimated cost of disposable nappies per child is $3,500.