Little Butts Produce a Lot of Sh*t

Disposable diapers and baby wipes are bad for the environment. Solutions: potty train your child early and use products such as sustainable toilet paper and toilet paper spray.

Even for the little ones, toilet habits are important for our planet. Because even if their bottoms are still small, they produce a lot of shit!

Disposable diapers
A child using disposable diapers produces about 300 kilos of waste per year. In the Netherlands, that means a waste mountain of 140 million kilos every year. This is 8% of all residual consumer waste. And that mountain of diapers is almost impossible to recycle. Disposable diapers contain all sorts of things: wood pulp, various plastics, and synthetic granules. And be aware: even though disposable diapers are now collected in some municipalities, recycling is barely happening, if at all.

Baby wipes
Diaper-wearing children use a lot of baby wipes. You might not have known this, but one standard pack of baby wipes contains 58 grams of plastic. That’s equivalent to 2 PET bottles! And it’s not just about the plastic packaging; the wipes themselves also contain plastic. Single-use plastic, that is! Because, unfortunately, many of those wipes are flushed down the toilet. This way, they end up in rivers and the sea via the sewage system.

Pretty heavy shit for our beautiful planet. But fortunately, there are solutions.

Potty training early

(Source: De Pot Op)

Children are physically well-capable of being potty trained around 18 months, but parents are busy and the disposable diaper makes things easy for them. As a result, children have been becoming potty trained later and later over the past few decades. In the Western world, the average is now 3 years. If we potty train children earlier, it saves a mountain of polluting diapers.

How do you potty train a child early? At De Pot Op, they have found a solution for that. The De Pot Op app helps parents and children with potty training. With a simple step-by-step process and support from experts and other parents, a child can become potty trained from 18 months old.

Cloth diapers and washable baby wipes
Of course, a disposable diaper is very convenient for the first year and a half. But why not a cloth diaper? They are no longer just a cloth and a safety pin. Nowadays, they come in trendy prints and have handy snaps or Velcro. And with a liner inside, you can flush the contents right down the toilet.

Sustainable toilet paper and toilet paper spray
Toilet paper is much more sustainable than baby wipes or wet wipes, but toilet paper itself also has an environmental impact. About 270,000 trees are cut down for it every day. Therefore, use sustainably produced toilet paper as much as possible. At The Good Roll, they make 100% tree-friendly toilet rolls. The rolls are made from European recycled paper. And it doesn't stop there. 50% of their net profit goes to building toilets in Africa. This way, they give many people access to clean toilets. So, toilet paper that is not only good for the environment but also contributes to a cleaner world for more people.

And is toilet paper a bit rough for your baby or toddler's bottom? Then use the eco-friendly toilet paper spray Booty Buddy from The Good Roll. With this fine spray, wet baby wipes become unnecessary. The Booty Buddy is completely biodegradable and specially developed to protect the skin.

Plenty of ways, then, to contribute to a greener world, even from a young age! Want to get started yourself? Check out www.depotop.nu and www.thegoodroll.nl for more information.