Did you know that a baby will go through around 6000 - 7000 nappies during their little growth & lifetime? And all of these nappies will go straight to landfill!
Landfill is a space of land used to dump garbage and wastage. Usually this land is in the ground or on top of it. What happens then is wastage is usually sanitised but when it comes to nappies, these are thrown into the landfill, and because of the chemicals in them, they DO NOT BREAKDOWN easily.
It takes around 150 years to 500 years even for a single nappy to breakdown.
Now maybe one nappy doesn't seem like a problem. But everyday at least 3.75 million nappies are used in Australia and New Zealand alone, and all of these go straight to our landfills to sit for another 150-500 years.
What does that mean?
It means that these nappies continue to build up in our landfills, take up space in our Pacific Islands where land is already limited, and since they cannot be recycled or sanitised, the toxins that come from them contribute to our world problem of pollution and global warming.
So what are we doing about it?
Well Kokobums along with so many other small businesses are bringing back sustainable solutions with reusable products. You'll notice many councils and governments are also slowly starting to implement reusables and recyclable products by banning plastic bags, plastic plates and cups etc. because it matters and we are seeing the consequences of years of plastic & wastage building up now.
How can you help?
You don’t have to switch over straight away. Start with buying a reusable swim nappy! These make a huge difference and was one of my small starting steps. It saved me money buying nappies every time we swam! And then start by using one reusable nappy a day! It honestly makes a huge difference to our planet but you may also find it makes a difference to your wallet, to your baby's skin and may also change the way you feel about being able to switch from disposable nappies to reusable's completely.
Picture used with permission, Copyright 2024 ©Wycliffe Manapori