Are cloth diapers worth it? Can’t decide whether to use cloth nappies on your little one? We’ve narrowed down our favourite reasons to switch!
1. Save money (a lot!)
Disposable diapers cost parents an average of 2,000 € per child until potty training. You need to buy 5,400 disposables on average!
A full set of 24 Pico Tango All-in-one cloth nappies, plus washing costs for 2.5 years is 3 times less compared with average diposables. You save about 1,400 € per child on average.
Here are our costs deconstructed:
- Full set of 24 cloth nappies + 24 boosters = 569 €
- Machine washing with your regular clothing at 40 ºC every 2 days = 0 €
- Machine washing separately at 60 ºC once a month* = 0.80 € per wash = 24 € over 2.5 years
- Electricity = 0.41 € per wash
- Water = 0.17 € per wash
- Detergent = 0.22 € per wash
* Wash at 60 ºC, 0.14662 €/KWh (average domestic price of the 5 cheapest anergy suppliers in Portugal on 27 April 2024), pre-wash plus main wash on a A++ washing machine with consumption of 1KWh.
So, are cloth diapers worth it? Definetly yes! Now check the health reasons for ditching disposables, it’s jaw dropping.
2. Baby’s health
France’s ANSES tested best-selling brands of disposable diapers and found that 90% of babies are exposed to highly toxic diapers. They discovered 38 “very severe hazard” chemicals in diapers sold throughout Europe. Most of the chemicals disrupt hormones, the officials say, a property that means they have no safe exposure level.
In contrast, our cloth diapers are made with natural organic cotton and Tencel in contact with the skin, which are safe for your baby. We don’t use chemicals at all.
3. Bye bye nappy rash
Disposable diapers often contain hazardous ingredients like dioxins, furans, and synthetic fragrances. These can cause skin allergies and rashes in babies.
In contrast, we make our clothdiapers with unbleached Tencel™ lyocell and organic cotton, which are highly breathable and offer a safe and hypoallergenic alternative for your baby’s delicate skin. Our cloth diapers safe even for babies with atopic skin.
4. Bye bye poop blowouts
Every parent knows that baby poop (pre-solid foods) is notorious for disposable diaper blowouts. We don’t have those with cloth diapers. We love that!
5. Reduce waste (drastically)
Each child on disposable diapers for 2.5 years adds 1 tonne of non-recyclable waste to the planet, that takes hundreds of years to decompose. It’s 5,400 disposables for each baby on average! On the contrary, 24 Pico Tango cloth diapers produce less than 5 kg of waste over the same period. And because you can wash the cloth diapers together with your regular clothes in the washing machine, most of the time you are not spending more water and energy than your normal routine would.
6. Lower CO2 emissions
Disposable diapers contribute to approximately 500 kg of CO2 equivalents over 2.5 years per child. Switching to cloth diapers can reduce this carbon footprint by 40%, resulting in a decrease of approximately 220 kg of CO2 emissions. Proper washing practices, line drying, and reusing your cloth diapers with a second child further contribute to the reduction.
7. Decrease crude dependency
Producing enough disposable diapers for a baby until they are potty trained requires over 1,500 liters of crude oil. By choosing cloth diapers, you can help decrease dependency on crude oil and its environmental impact.
8. Minimize resource use
Single-use baby diapers consume 20 times more land for raw material production and require 3 times more energy to manufacture compared to cloth nappies.
9. Be part of circular economy – help restore our oceans
We make our cloth diapers with SEAQUAL® yarn PUL, a high-quality 100% post-consumer recycled polyester yarn, containing upcycled marine plastic cleared from beaches in Spain and France by SEAQUAL Initiative, and it’s rastreable in the final product. You can make a difference in the fight against ocean pollution.
10. Contribute to ethical and sustainable production
Our production takes place in Portugal, where we ensure fair treatment of workers, fair wages, and compliance with health, safety, and environmental standards. At Pico Tango, ethical practices are at the core of everything we do. Explore our Ethics section for detailed information.
So… Are cloth diapers worth it? Definetly yes!! Not only you save a lot of money for each child, but you are also preserving your baby’s health.