About Pampers in dustbins.

[xyzzy@bok]

This issue seems to get swept under the carpet. i'm sure it must be illegal but millions do it. Maybe we should ask a dustman.?. Something that needs stigmatising, it is a crappy habit it all goes into landfill, but how else do parents dispose of pampers? Can you flush them away?

[parkhead]

According to recent advice from waste disposal folks nappies and all other sanitary products are suppost to be bagged and placed in your dustbin and not flushed down the loo under any circumstances as this blocks the drains and causes some poor soul to have them backing up into their loo! You are also suppost to do the same with dog poo, if you are unable to put it in the special bins provided for any reason.

[ninalondon]

The answer is not to use disposable nappies, they are really bad for the environment! Many people are going back to using terry towels (is that how you spell it?), washing them, and using them again and again. This is how it was done for years!

[darth vader]

You are allowed to dispose of them in the normal household waste bins, as long as you have bagged them up in a suitable bag - nappy sacks suffice.

[DavidUK]

It certainly shouldn't be swept under the carpet!

[Kit]

I always feel uneasy when there's talk of using guilt to persuade parents into using cotton - there are some who for one reason or another just cannot cope with them, and many feel guilty enough about it already (isn't being a parent one long guilt trip anyway?!). Better I think to dispel some of the myths surrounding cotton - eg more nappy rash, expensive, loads of soaking, smelly, hard work etc etc and point out that they can (although not always) work out a lot cheaper, can actually reduce nappy rash and eczema and can be sold second-hand so you get back at least some of your investment! Plus it costs around �30 for a council to dispose of one baby's disposables, so a lot of councils refund this to cloth users. There are also more eco-friendly disposables which are biodegradable or are made using fewer chemicals than standard disposables, so there's a greener choice for those who can't use cloth.
As to whether or not cloth is truly more eco-friendly - there is an argument that cloth wastes more water, energy and chemicals in the washing and soaking process. A study into the environmental footprint of both types of nappy is being conducted at the moment; as far as I know the report hasn't been published yet.

[etingwell]

I work in a pediatric ward, and whenever we change a child's nappy, the soiled one is taken to our sluice room and depisited in the sluice sink. The sluice sink is something like a funnel-shaped sink with a large drain and a cistern. Cloth nappies are rinsed and removed, however disposables - including "pull-ups" - are left in the sluice. The cistern is pulled and the resulting flush of water sends whatever's left - including disposable nappies - down the sewer for disposal. So, we do flush them, but our sewage system is supposed to be able to manage bulky medical waste like that. I doubt your loo would do as good a job.