Environmental groups in the U.K. want the country’s National Health Service to spearhead a campaign to use cloth nappies (that’s Brit for “diapers”) instead of disposable ones. The Women’s Environmental Network says parents attending pre-natal classes in the U.K. are shown only how to put a disposable nappy on an infant — and that’s wrong, wrong, wrong. It says that disposable nappies contain a chemical compound thought to disrupt sex hormones, require 200 to 500 years to decompose in landfills, and take 3.5 times the amount of energy to produce as “real” nappies. But the Absorbent Hygiene Products Manufacturers’ Association says that disposable nappies are the better choice for parents and that real nappies require gobs of electricity and water when washed. Its Nappy Information Service says, “Neither disposable nor reusable nappies can claim environmental superiority.”
