Are Reusable Nappies Worth It?

In a word, yes. In a few words, very much yes!

Of course, don’t just take our word (or words) for it, as we might be a little bit biased, what with making and selling reusable nappies and all.

Instead, have a look at our reasons - there’s even a bit of science here and there.

Reusable nappies can save you £500 or more

Your baby will be wearing nappies for around 2.5 years and in total, you can expect to change between 5,000 and 7,000 nappies.

If you’re using single-use nappies, this can work out to be quite costly. Given that if you’re buying branded nappies, you’ll pay around 20p per nappy and so you could end up spending anywhere between £1,000 and £1,200 per child.

Our Changemaker Bundle, on the other hand, costs £359.99 and has everything you need for your reusables journey, including nappy boosters for extra absorbency, liners and two wetbags.

If you use your reusables bundle on another baby, you’ll save even more, so what’s not to love?

What about all the extra washing loads?

We factored in the cost of all those washing loads already! It costs around £175 over the period your child is in nappies to wash and dry your reusables stash.

If you line dry your nappies as much as possible and wash at 40C, you could even bring this figure down a bit. Are you feeling the reusables love yet? If you’re still undecided, then think about the environment.

Using reusable nappies reduces your carbon footprint by 36%

That’s right, using washable nappies helps you to cut your carbon footprint by more than a third (1).

The production of those 5,000 single-use nappies creates 403.7kg of CO2, compared to just 33.5kg of CO2 created by the production of a reusable nappy bundle.

Most of the carbon output of reusable nappies is related to washing and drying, but as the UK’s energy grid decarbonises further (with a view to the 2030 Net Zero target), even this will fall.

By 2035, when the UK’s energy grid is totally decarbonised (2), using reusable nappies with one child will reduce your carbon footprint by 84% for one child and by 93% with two children.

You can steal a march on Net Zero

If you’re on a green energy tariff or if some or all of your electricity comes from solar panels, your carbon output from washing and drying nappies is already much lower!

Using reusable nappies also helps you to eliminate single-use plastics and fossil fuels from your household, your life and your nearest landfill site.

The 5,000 (ish) single-use nappies you might have chosen to use take around 1,500 litres of crude oil to produce (3) and once they’ve been used they almost always end up in landfill, where they’ll stay for hundreds of years.

So, are reusable nappies worth it? You’ll have to agree that they are and for so many more reasons than just money.

Citations and References

1. Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA). ‘Life Cycle Analysis of Nappies/Absorbent Hygiene Products 2021/23’ 2023. Web. randd.defra.gov.uk/ProjectDetails?ProjectId=20622
2. Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS). ‘BEIS Net Zero Strategy Charts and Tables.’ 2022. assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1066450/nzs-charts-tables-v1.1.xlsx
3. Zero Waste Europe. BFFP Policy Briefing. ‘It’s Time to Clear Out Plastic Chemicals from Nappies Not the Poop.’ 2021. Web. zerowasteeurope.eu/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/zwe_bffp_policy-briefing_Its-time-to-clear-out-plastic-chemicals-from-nappies-not-the-poop_en-2.pdf