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A FRESH stink is being kicked up over the use of nappies. Last month, UK environment secretary Michael Gove ignited controversy by hinting at a crackdown on disposable nappies. Environmentalists welcomed the idea, but time-poor parents baulked at the prospect of having to wash piles of cloth substitutes.

Despite feeling soft, the surface layer of disposable nappies is just one of many plastic components. These nappies alone, with each child typically getting through 4000 to 6000 of them. So it is no surprise that they have become the latest in a list of items being targeted for environmental reasons. Governments around the world are already phasing out single-use plastic items such as bags, straws and utensils in an attempt to cut waste.

But some parents argue that, when you look at the data, cloth nappies are no better than the standard, disposable variety. Reusable cloth nappies carry a cost to the environment because of the water and energy used during repeated laundering.

There are also dozens of new 鈥渆co-disposable鈥� products, which their makers claim combine the convenience of disposable nappies with environmental sustainability. But these come with their own flaws. How do the options stack up?

To compare different nappies, researchers conduct life-cycle assessments that consider their environmental impact from production to disposal. The first of these was commissioned in the early 2000s by the UK Environment Agency, after prime minister Tony Blair was quizzed about what kind of nappies he would use on his fourth child.

The , which was published in 2005, sparked fury among anti-plastic campaigners. It concluded that reusable cloth nappies were no greener than plastic disposables because the electricity consumed by washing and drying them cancelled out the benefits of reducing plastic production and waste. 鈥淚 still get email abuse every now and again,鈥� says at UK consulting firm Environmental Resources Management, who co-wrote the assessment.

鈥淥ne child typically gets through 4000 to 6000 disposable nappies from birth to toilet training鈥�

Critics said the report was misleading because it was based on how most people use the nappies, rather than optimal use. In response, Aum么nier and his colleagues published a . It found that if cloth nappies were washed in full loads, air-dried on a washing line and reused on a second child, they resulted in 40 per cent lower greenhouse gas emissions than using plastic disposable ones. These benefits are likely to be even greater today now that half the UK鈥檚 electricity comes from low-carbon sources, says Aum么nier.

Similarly, at the University of Queensland in Australia co-authored a study showing that if they were washed in front-loading machines in cold water 鈥� although most manufacturers recommend washing at warmer temperatures 鈥� and line-dried. 鈥淚t鈥檚 pretty clear that cloth nappies have less impact overall if you wash them the right way,鈥� she says.

That may be the case, but it is hard to deny the superior convenience of plastic disposables. Modern cloth nappies are much easier to use than the safety-pinned terry towelling squares of yesteryear (see 鈥�You鈥檝e come a long way, baby鈥�), but they still require time, commitment and physical space for washing and drying. And they can鈥檛 simply be chucked in the bin when you are out and about. 鈥淔or a stay-at-home parent living in a house, cloth nappies are a very feasible option, but they鈥檙e harder if you work full-time or live in a flat,鈥� says O鈥橞rien.

Plastic nappies are in the West and make up about 4 per cent of municipal household waste. Once in landfill, they take hundreds of years to break down. To cut this burden, some councils in the UK and Australia offer cash incentives to encourage parents to switch to cloth nappies. Others are thinking about setting up schemes to turn discarded plastic nappies into new products.

Small nappy-recycling initiatives in the UK and the Netherlands have previously failed because of high running costs, but now bigger players are stepping in. One is Procter & Gamble, which currently owns the lion鈥檚 share of the global nappy market. Last year, it announced it was investing in a aiming to convert 10,000 tonnes of used nappies 鈥� as well as products such as incontinence pads 鈥� per year into plastic bins, packaging and medical devices.

It sounds ideal, but Aum么nier warns that it may not be the miracle solution everyone is hoping for. The recycling process is likely to be energy-intensive, which could outweigh the waste-reduction benefits. 鈥淭here鈥檚 an assumption that recycling automatically means better, but as a bit of a sceptic, I鈥檇 like to see it demonstrated,鈥� he says.

Guilt free?

In the meantime, some people are turning to 鈥渆co-disposable鈥� nappies, which are marketed as get-out-of-jail-free cards for busy, environmentally conscious parents. These are also single-use nappies, but they are made of plant-based materials 鈥� such as cellulose, wood pulp, bamboo, or corn or wheat starch 鈥� that are meant to be more sustainable and biodegradable than plastic.

A clear benefit is that they are made from plants instead of non-renewable petrochemicals. However, their biodegradability comes with a major caveat. Although some eco-disposables are marketed as having a flushable insert, most only break down efficiently when composted. If they end up in landfill, the lack of oxygen means even plant-based nappies may take decades to decompose.

Moreover, the types of bacteria that degrade them under such low-oxygen conditions release the potent greenhouse gas methane as a by-product. In fact, a life-cycle assessment by Nadia Mirabella at the University of Milan in Italy found that eco-disposable nappies were .

To get around this problem, some parents use home composting systems to turn used eco-disposable nappies into fertiliser. 鈥淲e hear neat testimonials of people whose gardens are powered by their kids鈥� nappies,鈥� says Jason Graham-Nye, co-founder of US-based company gDiapers, which sells eco-disposable nappies. Each nappy takes about 40 days to break down in home compost, he says. But this can only be done for urine-containing nappies, due to the risk of spreading faecal pathogens. It is also unlikely to appeal to time-poor parents or those without a garden.

The answer may be to introduce pick-up services that take households鈥� used nappies away to commercial composters, says Graham-Nye. This month, his company started a trial at a childcare centre in Southampton, UK, to test the idea. They to the centre, then collect used ones at regular intervals for composting. All nappies can be composted with this set-up, no matter what they are soiled with. 鈥淚t鈥檚 completely zero waste,鈥� says Graham-Nye, who hopes to eventually expand the service to households, although it鈥檚 not yet clear how much this service will cost parents.

鈥淔or stay-at-home parents in a house, cloth nappies are feasible, but it is harder if you work, or live in a flat鈥�

For the time being, however, parents face an unavoidable trade-off between eco-friendliness and convenience. The greenest options appear to be cloth nappies that are laundered with minimal energy and eco-disposables that are composted at home, although they require bigger investments of time and effort. Plastic disposables make life easier, but only at the expense of the environment.

Fortunately, governments and companies seem to be increasingly motivated to find solutions. After Gove made his initial comments about needing to tackle plastic nappy waste, he clarified that the UK government would be looking at green alternatives rather than an outright ban. If these take the form of eco-friendly recycling or composting schemes for disposable nappies, the babies of today may become the guilt-free parents of tomorrow.

This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淢essy business鈥�