Would you ever burn nappies in a woodburner?

[Annpan]

Disposables.... specifically nature babycare (they have less plasticy crap than in the rest of them)

I know that we "shouldn't" but lets face it , we have all done things we shouldn't so, what's the worst that can happen? and considering that the alternative is sending them away to some land fill is it really all that bad to burn them?


A friend of mine was informed by an environmental somebody or other (she gave the impression she was qualified) that it was better to burn them as you negate transport to land fill and the landfill itself, plus you do get some free heat.

What d'ya think?

[Clara]

I do the Biobaby ones that we buy are supposedly biodegradable (made of corn i think), but I can't put them out on the compost because of the dogs (been there, done that, cleaned up the mess). They don't seem to burn in a plasticy way.

Considering the other option for me is not only landfill and all that transport that entails but also carrying the damn things a couple of miles to the bin (and a weeks worth of full nappies actually weighs a fair amount), I don't beat myself up too bad about it - my carbon footprint is far lighter than most, this is my sin.

[Rosendula]

...A friend of mine was informed by an environmental somebody or other .... that it was better to burn them as you negate transport to land fill and the landfill itself....

I don't know the answer to your question, Annpan, but my first thought was whether or not it really does 'negate transport to land fill'. Our bin men come every week regardless of how much needs to be taken away, so the transport happens, irrespective of whether we need it.

Of course, if the bin men take them, they do add to land fill. And if they don't they do provide you with free heat. Do they give off any toxic fumes? Puzzling one this. I'm looking forward to reading people's opinions.

[camillitech]

We used to burn ours as it seemed like the least worst option but to be honest they didn't actually burn very well and left lots of residue in the ash. It also meant we couldn't put the wood ash on the garden Think I'd still prefer burning them to having them in a bin during the summer for up to two weeks though.

Cheers, Paul

[Annpan]

...A friend of mine was informed by an environmental somebody or other .... that it was better to burn them as you negate transport to land fill and the landfill itself....

I don't know the answer to your question, Annpan, but my first thought was whether or not it really does 'negate transport to land fill'. Our bin men come every week regardless of how much needs to be taken away, so the transport happens, irrespective of whether we need it.

Of course... doh.

I guess the bin lorry burns more fuel if the lorry is heavier so that 6 oz of nappy might make a difference and if you are on just disposable that is 6 or so nappies a day, 7 days a week... might add up.... but I get your point.

[Shirley]

Aren't they compostable to some degree? I seem to recall the Moltex ones were - not 100% but a high number. If you work out which bits are the non compostable bits you could remove them and compost/wormerify the rest.

[Annpan]

I think Nature babycare are 70+ % biodegradable, I think they still have the absorbant plastic gel in the main section that soaks up the wee... I wouldn't feel so bad if they were 100% compostable (but I'd still burn them as you need a pretty big wormery for 30 nappies a week, well I only really use about 10 a week, but you get my point)

Any way I burned one yesterday and there was no sign of it this morning when I cleaned out the fire, perhaps a little more black ash but my fire also burns at 500oF at least once a day. (usual function is at about 350 I think)

[Helsbells]

What about washables?

[Annpan]

Yes, I use reusables 90% of the time but sometimes we use disposable - ie. overnight, out for the day or if we want to put normal clothes on E - reusables are very bulky and you can't put normal trousers over them.

Since reusable, well terries specifically are 100% cotton you could definitely burn them, or compost them, should you want to.

[JulieSherris]

Well, we don't have nappies here, Ann - but I use a puppy pad each night by the back door - our 6 yr old Basset still can't go thru the night

Now we have the range, the pad goes on there every morning - no noticeable smell, no noticeable ash, so I guess it has to better than having 14 wee pads stinking the bin up every fortnight!

As an aside..... in the Uk until last year, we had a dog flap for the dog..... if it rained, he used to stick his head out the dog flap... therefore he was 'outside'... THEN he'd cock his leg - which was still indoors!
I often wonder what the neighbours used to think of me constantly shouting 'all the way, Burts, all the way!!'....

[Annpan]

As an aside..... in the Uk until last year, we had a dog flap for the dog..... if it rained, he used to stick his head out the dog flap... therefore he was 'outside'... THEN he'd cock his leg - which was still indoors!
I often wonder what the neighbours used to think of me constantly shouting 'all the way, Burts, all the way!!'....

Aw Bless :D

[Thomzo]

I don't know about nappies but I used to put the cat litter on my Rayburn. I used to use the cat litter made from recycled newspaper and would pop it on the fire before it got too soggy.

Zoe

[juperwort]

I guess it all depends on the type of filling in the nappy. The standard polyacrylate (sp) filled ones are likely not to burn well. The Tushies that we sell are wood pulp based, so likely to burn well. The only plastic is the tags, which can be torn off.

[farmerdrea]

I would never burn plastic, no matter how small the amount. Burning plastic emits toxic fumes, dioxins, which eventually get into the surrounding environment, food sources and water sources. Dioxins are known carcinogens.

It's legal to burn plastic in open fires here in New Zealand, and when the farmers have the end-of-season baleage wrap fires, the black clouds of smoke smell deadly. Luckily, we've only been downwind of one once, but that was bad enough.

Andrea
NZ

[JakeR]

I'm with Andrea - I wouldn't burn any kind of plastic. It just puts too many funky chemicals in the air.

Our son is long out of diapers (nappies), but when he was younger we were in a similar situation.
Like you, we used cotton ones 90% of the time like and disposables when it was more convenient. The used ones went out with the trash.

However you handle the nappie situation, your young one will be grown before you know it. Enjoy every stage of it.

All the Best,