Reduce Reuse Recycle - unless it's nappies?

Waste is something to worry about in Ireland and the EPA are even working towards A Resource Efficient Ireland in their national strategy to 2020! You can read more about it here. So, we are all (including children in our schools) told to Reduce Reuse and Recycle as often and as publicly as possible by everyone with any interest in protecting our environment because we can really help to reduce waste...
if we:

• Reduce the amount of "stuff" we are buying - hence reduce the amount of materials used in making this "stuff" and also reduce the amount of "stuff" we need to dump. Not buying plastic bottles of water would be an example here -you can instead opt to drink water in a cup or get a reusable bottle rather than buying a plastic bottle every day. If we all did this less bottles would need to be made and dumped! You can read about The Bottled Water ban here. 

• Reuse the things that we do buy - often this means buying things that can be reused to begin with (like reusable water bottles) but it can also mean not dumping things that can be repurposed -maybe planting flowers in an old pair of wellies or something as simple as drawing and taking notes on used paper rather than dumping that and using more new paper for such purposes. A few years ago now, a government levy pushed us to make changes to our use of plastic bags -more of us opt for reusable bags these days and it's made an observable difference to our environment with less bags floating about.

• Last but not least we can Recycle the things that we do need to dump - send them all off to the right place to be made into something else useful. 

It's common sense really and we already naturally apply this logic to a lot of things that we "need" in our lives:

You don't buy a new car every day -just the one will do for a number of years and even when you are done with it you don't tend to pop it it the wheely bin, leave it in a ditch somewhere or drive it to park at the landfill. If it still works you sell it on to allow someone else to get more use out of it. At the end of their lives cars have any useful parts taken out and other materials are removed and recycled. Cars are a bit expensive to be replacing on a daily basis- so we all willingly Reduce & Reuse. Of course it would be even better if we could reduce the number of cars we use to 0. We could rely on public transport and our feet where possible - especially since as well as manufacturing materials and disposal of cars we must also consider the carbon footprint generated as we use our cars.

There are no disposable cars on the market at the moment (that I know of)!!

We don't buy new dishes everyday either -even though disposable crockery and cutlery is an option. We typically buy a set or two of crockery and then wash and reuse them daily until there are enough pieces broken or missing to warrant buying another set (or picking up some pieces somewhere). This is probability a longer time for those who don't have small children and a set of crockery may last years! With small children breaking plates, cups and glasses very few consider using paper plates and polystyrene cups but a lot of people will opt for plastics, metal or enamel materials that are harder to break but still need to be washed! 

We do the same with clothes: wash, dry, wear and repeat! Laundry and washing dishes has to be the bain of our existence but still we do it. It would be both convenient and time-efficient to use paper plates and maybe wear disposable hospital gowns rather than doing all that washing but we don't! 

Why not?

Are we just a little snobbish about using nice crockery and wearing nice clothes? Does it tot up to far too much to supply these items on a daily basis? Are we concerned about waste management: all those dishes and clothes going in the bin? Is it all the materials being used to make them in their millions to keep us all in clothes and crockery each day? Or is it simply that nobody has marketed this idea to us just yet? Is it because none of our friends are "going sposie" on these items just yet?

Will we all switch over suddenly and in our masses to sposie plates and hospital gowns by 2020 I wonder? 

What will the EPA, Department of Environment, Community and Local Government and other agencies say to that? Will there be a "for and against" debating the materials being used to make real plates and transport, the washing powder and electricity being used in our dishwashers Versus the trees used to make paper ones and the rate of decomp in the landfills? Will we have to set up support groups for those opting to wear real clothes? Will we only be able to buy metal cutlery online from Oz? Will the hospital gown company come up with some variation in colour so everything isn't blue? Will there be a real plate week and then objections to the name as someone contends that:

paper dishes are "real" too and it's insulting to imply that they are not

I wonder if environmental experts will tell The Real Plate/Clothes Movement that paper plates/gowns are actually more environmentally friendly or that they can't support the Real Plate/Clothes Movement as the evidence is "at best unclear". It all depends on how you use the Crockery/Clothes you see: if you wash at 90, machine dry from wet and/or buy your crockery/clothing in China it's not actually better for the environment! Will they continue to shout about reducing reusing and recycling with an added disclaimer at the bottom:

....except for nappies, dishes and clothes.

Should we be filling our landfils with clothes and plates along with the nappies.....while we recycle the dishwasher and washing machine?

It's a no brainer for me.....but I'm no expert or anything!

There would be something very muddled up in that IMHO. Of course it's not good to throw things out after one use....especially if REDUCE REUSE RECYCLE is the environmental mantra of the century! There isn't an environmental argument for sposie plates, clothes or nappies.

I'll be sticking to my current wardrobe of real clothes (not that sposie clothes isn't real too, no offence intended). Even though a lot of my clothes are already blue I like the feel of different fabrics and call me self absorbed, but I'm not so sure that a gown is the look for me. I like pants and jumpers and options for colder weather. Elastic is great and I'd miss zips and buttons. On the bright side I'm not washing at 90 -eco washes at 40 all the way, doing my bit! I only use the dryer to dry in emergencies like when the school uniform is still damp on Monday morning or to finish off socks that had to be rushed inside from a shower.

I'll be sticking to my charity shop and hand me down crockery too, I'm afraid. I like how they can carry heavier meals safely to the table and that they can be heated a little to keep my food hot. Call me sentimental but I have plates and cups that my mother, mother-in-law and grandmother used and passed on to us and there is something special abut using them. Sticking to the reusable plastics for picnics too. Again an eco option on the dishwasher and eco powder means we're doing something to reduce any damage to the environment.

And nappies? I'll be using cloth nappies of course. Cute, economic,  most effective and comfy. I don't need much more convincing to be honest. It's as logical to me as holding on to my clothes and kitchenware. On the bright side I'm not washing at 90 (since that would damage my nappies anyway) or using a machine to dry (that would also damage the particular brands I've chosen). 40 degree wash with as little powder as I can get away with and air drying.

I'm in the pro washing lobby I suppose!