The Great Diaper Debate

Many people consider themselvesenvironmentally minded consumers and are willing todrive hybrid cars, recycle and even build solarpowered homes, yet putting a biodegradable diapers (ornappies) on their child is a stretch. Sales of hybridcars have skyrocketed in the past year but some storeshave had to discontinue selling biodegradable diapersbecause they simply are not selling.

Australian Pacific Paper Products’s BabyLove EcoBots are madeof bioplastics and take just months to degradecompared with the years it takes conventional diapersto break down. Made with 68% biodegradable materials, EcoBots also cost about the same asother diapers.

APPP marketing manager Val Ianno said:

What’s changed is the expectation that is was goingto sell even higher and it hasn’t. That’s not to saysales aren’t healthy or improving, they are, but maybethe expectations haven’t been met. We understand andwe have to accept their decision.

In the United States, G Diapers offers a similar system. The G Diapers Starter Kit includes cloth covers, snap-in liners with flushable inserts.  Urine-soiled inserts can even be composted.

Paul Klymenko, chief executive of Planet Ark, whoselogo appears on the EcoBots nappies, said:

It’s popular alright, it’s just that it is notpopular enough. Retailers risked alienating consumerswho had already aligned their values to the brand.This is not about a choice based on price but onebased on what is the best of the environment. There isa world of difference.

In contrast, sales of Lexus’s hybrid luxury vehiclesare beating expectations. Sales of the $121,000 SedanGS 450h (pictured left) have already passed the target of 161 carssince the launch in May last year, to reach 226.

The problem that exists is that companies are failingto tap into growing concern about the environment.Nearly 80 percent of shoppers surveyed in Februarysaid they wanted to make ‘environmentally friendlypurchases’, but admitted they could do more. Only 14percent actually bought environmentally-friendlyproducts.

It is not always easy for companies to make theconnection in their marketing between the product andits impact on the environment. The majority of thetime companies are more concerned with what will sell,not what is best for our environment. It seems easyfor people to understand that driving a car thatpollutes less will be good for our world but it seemspeople have yet to make the connection that putting abiodegradable diaper on their baby will have the sameeffect.

Source: The Age

Thanks to CBB reader Elizabeth.

– Tara

If you drive a hybrid car, do you also cloth diaper?