Nappy rubbish

The article says there is an environmental time-bomb ticking in rubbish tips and landfills throughout West Sussex.

This is total rubbish, pardon the pun.

Disposable nappies are part of everyday life for more than 90 per cent of parents with young babies and although they make up 2.4 per cent of household waste, they are only 0.1 per cent of the total waste that we send to landfill in the UK, so it is hardly a ticking time-bomb.

More than 80 per cent of a used nappy and its contents are biodegradable and, along with all other non-biodegradable matter, the balance which includes some plastic will take longer to break down.

Disposable nappies are compatible with all forms of waste management and, in Europe, it is only the UK that relies so heavily on landfill.

Later in the article there are references to alleged environmental issues associated with disposable nappies. There is nothing to choose between disposable and reusable nappies environmentally. They both have an environmental impact.

Washing cloth nappies hundreds of times requires huge quantities of clean water, energy and detergents, whereas disposable nappies go into the household waste and most finish up in landfill sites.

Clean water is a diminishing resource that, if John Prescott has his way, will be extremely scarce in the South-East.

If thousands of parents decided to change to using cloth nappies, this would make the situation even worse.

-T Peter Stephenson, Director General AHPMA, Bridge Street, Godalming