Critics claim Agency nappy report is “seriously flawed”

The report – described as “seriously flawed” by some critics – comes as a massive blow to campaigns around the country encouraging parents to reduce the amount of waste they produce by using “real” nappies.

”Even in its current flawed state it shows that parents who use cloth nappies can save waste confident in the knowledge that washing them will cause no more global warming than disposable nappies. “
– Ann Link, Women's Environmental Network

The Agency’s report is the culmination of four years' work by consultants ERM, costing 200,000 and involved 2,000 parents.

The story has already hit the national headlines, gaining almost as much coverage as the entire national recycling campaign, “Recycle Now”. One expert said the Agency report had “ruined a lot of hard work” in waste awareness.

Speaking on Radio 4 this morning, the Environment Agency's Tricia Henton completely dismissed any idea that using re-usable nappies was better for the environment and dismissed out of hand any questions surrounding the reliability of the Agency's research.

Ms Henton, director of environmental protection at the Environment Agency, said: “This study was carried out to establish the true environmental impacts of using disposable and reusable nappies.

“If parents using reusables want to improve their impact on the environment they will need to look more closely at how they launder nappies.”

The Environment Agency said that using re-usable nappies is just as bad for the environment as using disposal nappies because of the electricity used washing re-usable nappies and other impacts on the environment such as transporting the cotton used to the UK.

Flawed
The Agency report was described as “seriously flawed” by the Women’s Environment Network, one of the lead campaign groups on the environmental effects of nappies.

The group slammed the Agency for spending 200,0000 on a study that, it said, ultimately found “no significant difference between any of the environmental impacts”.

WEN claimed the study was based on “poor quality data and misses the point of its own findings”.

WEN’s Ann Link – who was on the advisory board for the Environment Agency's report – said: “It has missed the point of its own findings. Even in its current flawed state it shows that parents who use cloth nappies can save waste confident in the knowledge that washing them will cause no more global warming than disposable nappies.”

“The biggest impacts it identifies are all to do with energy production and use – abiotic resource depletion (fossil fuel use), global warming and acidification – yet if parents use 24 nappies and follow manufacturers' instructions to wash at 60oC using an A rated washing machine they will have approximately 24% less impact on global warming than the report says,” Ms Link said.