It won't wash

Yesterday the Environment Agency released a report comparing the environmental impacts of disposable and washable nappies. It's surprising conclusion is that disposables are not really bad when compared to washables. However, "this report is full of holes. Why are its findings based on an assumption that washable aficionados use 47 nappies, whereas we had easily got by on 20? Why did the Environment Agency survey 2,000 parents using disposable nappies compared with just 117 using washables, meaning that (taking into account the weighting towards those using older-style nappies which use more cloth), many of the assumptions are based on the habits of just 32 people? Why does the report include the energy used to iron nappies? Who on earth irons their nappies? Why was it assumed that people environmentally conscious enough to be using washable nappies would automatically want to tumble dry them? What's more, for some reason the findings used the typical energy consumption of washing machines available in 1997, rather than modern, much more energy- efficient models. And much greater emphasis is given to people who wash their nappies at 90C, instead of the 60C recommended by the washable nappy manufacturers. It all seems bizarrely weighted against the use washables."



The worst thing is that the publicity about this report will say to people; 'carry on using disposables', and the 'hang on that's not fair ...' responses won't get heard.

And it's the way you tell 'em: "if you use washable nappies in the correct way, they can actually be up to a quarter more energy efficient than disposables over their entire lifecycle - a point which is actually made in the report, though buried very deeply"

You'd have thought better of the Environmental Agency; makes you wonder about the influence of certain businesses ...

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | It won't wash: