I am appalled by the amount of garbage that the average baby produces. Dirty nappies make up about half of our household garbage. Or to put it differently, we now produce twice as much garbage as before. Official estimates back up this estimate.

I had a little look on the Internet and it turns out that disposable nappies are even worse than I thought.

• No one knows how long it takes for disposable nappies to break down in a landfill – they haven’t been round long enough. The first disposable nappies ever used (1970s? 1980s?) are all still around. Estimates range around hundreds of years. And some parts will never break down.
• Marketing for eco-disposable nappies claims that these break down in six months. But they don’t mention the fact that this only works if the nappies are composted – the breakdown process requires sunlight and air, which the nappy won’t get if it is buried in a landfill.
• Raw sewage can normally not be disposed without treatment… but dirty nappies go straight into landfills, of course, with all the bacteria they carry. Eeugh!

In order to do something about this, I have decided to experiment with cloth nappies. Besides, I’m not very impressed with any of the disposable nappies we’ve used – they leak. The cloth ones can hardly be any worse.

My trial pack from The Nappy Lady arrived today, with one Tots Bots Bamboozle, one MotherEase One-Size, and a MotherEase Air Flow wrap, plus some liner samples.

These things look almost as easy to use as the disposable ones we’ve been buying until now, and a lot more cosy. Soon we’ll see how they work in practice.