Jennifer Horgan: You've heard of Big Pharma and Big Tech. What about Big Nappy?

About one million disposable nappies are binned every day in Ireland, with a massive environmental impact. Are we ever going to do anything about it, asks Jennifer Horgan?

When are we going to tackle Big Nappy?

Maya Angelou said when people know better, they do better. I never thought I would dare disagree with that phenomenal woman.

And it’s not that I disagree entirely with you, Maya, only that I’d like to make an edit. My version is something like this: when people know better, and are rewarded for doing better, they do better.

It’s not quite as poetic is it? But that doesn’t make it untrue.

Sure, simply knowing what’s best determines some people’s actions. I’m just not convinced the majority of humans work that way. I think most of us need some kind of external gratification — and the more immediate the better.

Take the bottle return scheme: nobody enjoys jostling a bulging bag of cans and bottles around the place, but getting that little slip of paper makes it worthwhile. So what if my tiny utility is choked with bottles and cans all week? My free frothy coffee is pure heaven.

Cans and plastic bottles litter is down 50% since the scheme was introduced in early 2024.

Collecting bottles and cans is inconvenient but we’re doing it, and that’s good for the environment.

We also made the inconvenient decision to buy an electric car a few weeks back. Our car was stolen from outside our door. Thankfully, we were insured and with the money, along with a little extra on top, we invested in a second-hand electric.

It’s inconvenient because we have no driveway, so we can’t charge it at home. We’ve been warned against snaking anything across the footpath; it goes wrong and we’re liable. Even electricians are steering clear now of installing them for people without the private property to accommodate them legally. I don’t hold out much hope of the infrastructure changing soon, but the tangible rewards of our inconvenient decision make it worthwhile.

We never have to buy petrol again. It feels like we’ve cut a bit of Trump out of the picture of our lives. He's still there, as he is for all of us, but he’s missing a small little bit of his orange ear. It’s a start.

It’s also a very nice car. You can warm up the seats in winter. And this is crucial — we’re saving money every week. Inconvenience isn’t a problem so long as we’re rewarded for it. Our next savings project will be solar panels and the incentives for that will help too.

Convenience carries hidden harms

Convenience so often carries hidden harms, but hidden harms don’t change our behaviour. If we’re honest about it, we didn’t buy an electric car solely because of the harms of fossil fuels. We bought an electric car because of the rewards too.

So, I’ve a problem solving exercise for you this week. How do we combat a hugely damaging industry, built on convenience, in a way that offers a tangible, visible reward? What industry, I hear you ask?

Well, we’ve all heard of Big Pharma and Big Tech, but how many of us know the scourge of Big Nappy?

According to Kate Doyle, Big Nappy “has quietly over the last 50 years built a childhood system dependent on their disposable products, and the environmental, financial, and developmental consequences are only now beginning to surface”. 

The environmental impact of disposable nappies is huge. In her correspondence with me, Kate Doyle uses birth data for the last number of years to show the average number of live births in Ireland is about 55,000, putting 165,000 children under the age of three in Ireland right now, each using six-seven nappies per day.

That puts the number of nappies used per day at over 1,000,000. She doesn't have the number for children currently in reusable nappies, but says it’s low — probably 3-5% at best.

The number of disposable coffee cups we bin every day, about 500,000, gets reasonable media attention, she says. We throw away twice the number of nappies and there is no policy or plan in place to address it. The Government recently brought out a circular economy strategy, but Kate Doyle says there is nothing about nappies in it.

As she explains, nappies are mixed material which makes them extremely difficult to recycle. But concerns over the environment are not likely to stop people using disposable nappies.

Something else she tells me just might, and it relates to the healthy development of babies.

She explains that 50 years ago, the average age of potty training was 27 months; today it’s 42 months. The time a child spends in nappies has increased by 50%. 

In the 1970s and 1980s, 83% of children were out of nappies by 18 months. Disposable nappies, Kate explains, contain a “stay dry” layer to keep babies comfortable. One consequence, intended or otherwise, is that no matter how full the nappy gets, the top layer always stays dry. “Children do not get any sensory feedback when they have a wee,” she says.

The 'trick' of the full disposable nappy

She suggests I test it by getting a disposable nappy and holding it open under a running tap, predicting the super absorbent polymer pulp will swell up (like wallpaper paste) but the top layer inside the nappy, closest to the skin, will stay completely dry.

“It’s like a trick; it is like your eyes are deceiving you,” she says.

The result is that it makes it extremely difficult for children to connect peeing with the need to go to the toilet. This in turn creates enormous parental anxiety and guilt. Children take longer to potty train at a time when there is huge pressure to meet the milestone to secure a childcare space. 

The School Readiness Survey in the UK shows one in four children are not toilet-trained when they start school.

To be clear, Kate Doyle is not a neutral observer. She is a parent of two children, and started a small business selling cloth nappies called EcoKinly to offer an alternative for parents. She says she started the business to highlight alternatives for parents who were not being given the full picture.

I know, and perhaps she knows too, that the environmental harms of nappies won’t change most people’s behaviour. Knowledge about developmental harms might, but we need to add a reward on top.

Various councils in the UK offer discounts, cashbacks and kit incentives to get going. The Nappy Gurus, through the National Reusable Nappy Incentive Scheme, enable parents to access an incentive, regardless of their postcode.

Would that be enough to change behaviour here? I would have parted from disposables very reluctantly. I was so tired. Disposable nappies and wipes were my friends. These days, I cherish my white goods in a similar way.

What's your view on this issue?

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Maybe parents could also get some free charging on their electric car? Or a nice frothy coffee for the effort? In a reusable cup, of course. It would cost the State and the planet far less in the long run.

When we know better, and get a free frothy coffee, we do better…?

I’m sorry, Maya. I’ll keep drafting.