How would you feel a return to the days of washing out and reusing nappies?!
A Meath-based councillor has highlight how a move from disposable nappies to reusable cloth ones not only has huge environment benefits but could save parents thousands of euro!
Cllr Deirdre Geraghty-Smith, a FF councillor, is calling for a Government support for a national reusable nappy scheme which would be local authority-led.
Currently, 600,000 disposable nappies are used in Ireland each day and it's estimated that if people used even one reusable nappy per day, it would save 1,000 disposable nappies from landfill.
Speaking to Damien Tiernan on Deise Today this morning, Deirdre Geraghty-Smith said she was proposing modern cloth nappies, not the old terri-cloth nappies of old.
"What I'm promoting is a far cry from the old amonia-soaked nappy of yesteryear," she said.
"You do have to launder them but it's not nearly as gruesome as people think! I would have been a sceptic myself but I use them now for my own child so I am familiar with them."
The councillor also explained the process for the reusable modern cloth nappies which are quite neat, she said, and fit under all regular babygros etc. They are made of either cotton, bamboo, charcoal or hemp and have a waterproof layer.
She said they are initially 'dry pailed' which means they are stored essentially in a bucket with a lid (and there is absolutely no smell)
You can keep them this way for up to two days, then pre-wash them and put into a 60-degree wash in a washing machine.
She said they come out perfectly clean and the washing machine is also perfectly clean afterwards.
She added that because washing machines these days are extremely energy efficient, people don't need to be worried about wasting energy this way either.
Deirdre Geraghty-Smith also noted a similar nappy scheme is actually underway in the UK and it's working very well.
She said the savings cost to parents was huge. It is estimated that babies from birth to potty training can use up to 5,000 nappies, with a potential saving for parents of some 1,500 euro.
There was an initial small outlay for the reusable nappies, she told the programme, but after that there were great long-term savings to be had.
You can listen back to the interview with Deirdre Geraghty-Smith by clicking below here...
