Today, I found myself in a room full of passionate campaigners, councillors, waste authorities and brand representatives, all focused on one thing: how to tackle the growing problem of nappies, sanitary products and incontinence wear.
For a moment though, it felt like I had stepped back into 2018 when I started Mama Bamboo.
Because in truth, very little has changed.
The Numbers Haven’t Shifted
Seven years on, the statistics remain stubbornly static:
- Out of roughly 2 million UK parents with babies in nappies, fewer than 10% choose reusable nappies — despite vouchers, nappy libraries, incentives and over two decades of campaigning.
- Even among those who opt for reusables, most admit they use a mix of reusable and disposable.
- Of the 3–6 million adults using incontinence products, almost all rely on disposables.
- And among the 15 million women of menstrual age in the UK, less than 12% choose washable period wear.
Meanwhile, every single day in the UK we dispose of approximately:
- 8 million nappies
- 1 - 2 million adult incontinence products
- 11.8 million period products
Most of them are incinerated. Most of them are made from fossil-fuel-based plastics.
And yet — they don’t have to be.
The Imbalance in the Conversation
What struck me most in that room wasn’t the passion. It was the imbalance.
Around 95% of the discussion centred on how to persuade more people into switching to reusable options.
Less than 5% focused on how to legislate, redesign, and properly process the disposable products that the overwhelming majority of people continue to choose.
Let me be clear: I fully support reusable schemes.
If we can lower the recommended potty training age from 36 to 30 months — brilliant.
If parents are happy to pay nurseries or private providers for additional laundry services — excellent.
But these measures alone will never provide a solution that works for everyone.
We must be realistic. Disposables are, and for the foreseeable future will remain, the vastly more popular choice. Government policy must reflect that reality.
Encouraging reusable uptake is important. But ignoring the mountain of disposables entering incinerators every day is not a strategy — it’s avoidance.
Materials Have Moved On. Policy Hasn’t.
Here’s the hopeful part.
Over the past decade, materials science and processing technology have advanced significantly. Plant-based materials now offer:
- A renewable alternative to fossil plastics
- Reduced carbon impact
- The possibility of fully circular end-of-life processing
We are no longer limited to oil-based design. The barrier is not innovation — it is scale, funding and political will.
I’m hugely excited by research currently underway at UCL, exploring how plant-based nappies can be dissolved within days and processed through existing anaerobic digestion (AD) infrastructure. Imagine a system where disposable hygiene products could break down in just three days, returning to the soil as nutrient-rich fertiliser instead of going up in smoke.
It’s possible.
But at the moment, it’s small-scale research operating on very limited budgets.
The Solution Is Not Complicated
If we truly want change, we need to shift the focus from behaviour alone to product design and infrastructure.
Two simple steps could transform this space:
1. Set a Clear Phase-Out Timeline
Governments should establish a defined timeframe to design fossil-fuel-based plastics out of nappy production and other hygiene products.
Industry responds to certainty. Give them a deadline.
We are a tiny company and we've already designed, tested and launched an 80% plant based product. Imagine what the giant brands could do with a little incentive. The materials exist for a 100% compostable product but we need scale to make them commercially viable.
2. Ringfence EPR Funding
Implement Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) on the products themselves, not just packaging, and ringfence the funds for:
- Research into compostable and plant-based materials
- Scaling innovative processing technologies
- Building the infrastructure needed to handle compostable hygiene waste
EPR penalties should be based on the % of oil based plastic in the products; pushing the manufacturers to make small changes immediately ahead of an outright ban.
We Must Move the Conversation On
For decades we have tried to change behaviours for the 20 million hygiene product users in the UK and the message back has been resoundingly negative. People do not want to use washables; they are not convenient, the labour implications are too high and the laundry is unpleasant. A small number of users will commit to their usage, but the majority will not.
Reusable products absolutely have a role to play. But realistically disposables will be in usage for the majority for the foreseeable future; so let's get smart. It’s time to listen to the feedback from 90% of people and focus our attention and finances on making smarter products and systems; changing the materials and systems to handle these highly essential, desired products.
If millions of people are going to continue choosing disposables — and they will — then the responsibility shifts to us, as policymakers and producers, to ensure those products are no longer part of a linear, fossil-based waste stream.
The future isn’t reusable versus disposable. It's reusable AND smart disposables.
And we need government to trigger the mass adoption of this mission through legislation and investment.
Sign our petition
If you agree it's time to change the conversation, please sign our petition to government to set a timeframe on a ban on oil based plastic in nappy production -
Petition · Ban Oil-Based Plastic in Nappies - United Kingdom · Change.org
