What are the Best Compostable Nappies Australia 1.1-Eco nappies VS Compostable Nappies?

As you have arrived on this page, you are likely interested in learning more about compostable nappies, and you may wonder what the best compostable nappies in Australia are. Good question, and the answer is straightforward, as there is a limited choice.

Best compostable nappies in Australia-2 hands holding soil with a green plant growing in the middle.
Hands holding soil with a green plant growing in the middle.

It would be a different story when talking about Eco nappies as they are available in abundance. So, shall we find out what the best compostable nappies are?

However, we will get started on the best compostable nappies very soon; we like to ask you one more question first. Do you know the differences between biodegradable and compostable nappies? If you do, that is great, but if you are not 100% sure, we would like to discuss this first so we are all on the same page.

What are the Best Compostable Nappies in Australia?

The answer is quite simple: Eenee is the ONLY compostable nappy in Australia; in our opinion, they do a great job. Please read our full review here. Nevertheless, some tremendous sustainable eco nappies on the market may not be compostable yet have high sustainable qualifications and use high percentages of plant-based ingredients.

Difference between Compostable and biodegradable nappies

So, let’s briefly examine the differences between these eco-friendly nappy choices. Is one much more sustainable than the other?

Good question, as the differences between the two eco-nappies can blur. Either natural or sustainable benefits are not always as transparent as one wishes. But don’t worry; we are on a mission to make things more transparent for you.

Okay, let’s have a look at some facts…

Facts of Compostable Nappies

Compostable nappies are free from plastic and chemicals that could harm trees and the environment. Compostable nappies are less common than biodegradable nappies, but generally speaking. They will break down quicker than biodegradable nappies.

To use commercial composting services in Australia to dispose of your compostable nappies, Composting Australia must endorse them. However, even though Compost Australia supports a nappy, this doesn’t mean they will accept your compostable nappies.

I know this may not sound very straightforward, and believe me, you are right, as composting nappies appeared to be complicated. One of the main reasons this matter is so complex is that nappies contain human waste.

Some people are working hard to change the current challenges of disposing of compostable nappies. Depending on where you reside, there are opportunities for some people already. Still, it could be challenging for most to find commercial composters to dispose of compostable nappies, which is a shame because they will likely end up in landfills.

Facts of Biodegradable nappies

Biodegradable nappies are made from a percentage of plant-based material and have less plastic and chemicals than regular disposable nappies. Still, they contain a portion of a synthetic material that will take an extended period to break down.

As biodegradable nappies contain a percentage of unnatural matter, eco nappies are unsuitable for composting. This could harm trees and plants, and the nappy plastic will take longer to break down.

‘It will enormously differ per individual eco nappy brand how biodegradable and sustainable an eco nappy is. To look at true sustainability, one should consider how biodegradable a nappy is, but look at the whole lifeline of the nappy. However, disposing of it is essential; it is only ONE step in the process.

Challenges of biodegradable nappy brands

Best compostable nappies in Australia-baby wearing a white eco nappy
Baby is standing in a garden wearing a white nappy.

Most commonly, eco-nappy brands struggle to find greener solutions for the tags required in disposable nappies and components like polyethylene to make the nappy flexible and stretchy.

Ecoriginals recently updated their eco nappies and claimed they are more than 90% plant-based and biodegradable. This means that 90% of the nappy can break down on landfill sides in 3 months when disposed of correctly, which is quite a significant result.

Still, Ecoriginal nappies are not compostable. However, their packaging is 100 per cent home-compostable, which is excellent. Therefore, when discussing the sustainable value of the Ecorignial nappy, we have come a long way, and many sustainable goals have been achieved.

Did you know breaking down regular disposable nappies can take hundreds of years? (Yes, you heard this correctly; it can take 150 to 500 years for a plastic nappy to break down on a landfill site). However, it may not be perfect; wouldn’t you agree that reducing this down to 90 days is not less than an extraordinary achievement?

(To achieve the mentioned results of breaking down the Ecoriginal nappy within three months, you are expected to use biodegradable nappy liner bags or a newspaper to dispose of the nappy).

Other biodegradable nappies

As you probably know, Ecoriginals are not the only eco nappies out there; there is quite a bit of choice when browsing for greener nappies as they have become quite popular.

However, finding a genuinely sustainable nappy can be challenging, though ‘greenwashing’ is not uncommon. Nevertheless, there are a few excellent sustainable choices with sincere sustainable efforts.

Some brands like Bamboo Nature, Moltex and Muumi have their independent eco-certification, which gives you a good guideline for choosing a genuinely sustainable product.

Besides Ecoriginals nappies, the brand Bamboo Nature is quite a popular choice, and they offer attractive savings if you purchase their nappies in bulk. To mention a few more, there are Moltex nappies recommended for kids suffering from eczema.

Another nappy choice that will leave a much lower eco-footprint is the Finish Muumi eco-nappy brand, and the Nordic Swan Eco Label backs up their sustainable efforts. Muumi also has a Finish certification for asthma and allergies.

If you want eco nappies, a sample pack is recommended before committing to a brand and buying nappies in bulk. Using a sample box allows you to trial one nappy of your choice or several eco nappies. This is a perfect way to determine how you like nappies and how they will perform for your baby, as one brand that fits ideally for one baby might not work for the next baby.

So, back to the topic of compostable nappies, a fascinating topic. After reading an article stating that there are no compostable nappies in Australia, we stopped searching for compostable nappies for a little while.

We learned about the challenges of making compostable nappies and the high requirements for nappy brands to become certified compostable. Unfortunately, no brand seems to meet these standards and make nappies without using any plastic.

So when we learned later compostable nappies exist, we were pretty surprised. We learned about a nappy brand that has tackled the challenges and successfully designed a fully compostable nappy endorsed by Compost Australia. Quite an impressive result, right? You may wonder what this nappy brand did differently than the other eco brands, right?

Why were they successful while all other eco brands never reached this goal?

Underneath, we included a little story of Eenee you may be interested in watching.

(Please note that the first-mentioned Weenees are no longer available, but only the compostable U-pads)

Why was Eenee successful in launching a fully compostable nappy?

So why could Eenee launch this fully compostable nappy while all other eco-nappy brands never reached these sustainable goals?

To win the challenge successfully and eliminate plastic and chemicals in disposable nappies. Eenee has been thinking outside the box. They have created a disposable nappy without any plastic or stretch to meet the requirements of launching a fully compostable nappy.

How did they do that?

As you can imagine, a nappy will not function without tags to keep the disposable nappy in place, and sure enough, plastic is required in these tags. So we need a nappy without tags.

Eenee has very cleverly designed a nappy with two compartments. The element where synthetic materials are required is separate from the rest of the nappy, so the disposable nappy is entirely natural and compostable.

You can choose between a reusable pull-up cover or a cotton belt to ensure the compostable nappy will stay in place. Pretty clever, right? The convenience of disposable nappies allows parents to leave a smaller eco-footprint.

Commercial composting opportunities for Eenee nappies

Best compostable nappies Australia-baby sitting on a little stool facing the wall and wearing a white Eenee nappy
Baby sitting on a stool wearing a white Eenee nappy

Commercial composting– Even though Compost Australia endorses nappies, it doesn’t automatically mean that you can dispose of them by all commercial composting facilities in Australia just yet, as the composting industry is still evolving a lot in Australia.

Eenee chose not to wait for the compost industry to be ready and launched their innovative, fully compostable nappies and worked hard every day to get approved by commercial composters in Australia.

Eenee results thus far with commercial facilities?

Unfortunately, the Brisbane Council does not provide FOGO services, but you can use an organic waste collection service in Brisbane to dispose of Eenee nappies. However, this is a paid service.

What about composting the nappies at home?

Eenee previously had compostable nappies called Weennees, which were suitable to compost at home if you wished. With the wet nappies for the soiled nappies, you could flush them in the toilet. However, we learned that Eenee doesn’t stock Weenees any longer.

Eenee now sells compostable U-pads, but unfortunately, they are unsuitable for home composting unless you follow a hot composting technique. When you use this hot composting technique at home, you are still recommended to use wet nappies to compost at home for hygiene purposes. Soiled U-pads are not suitable for flashing through the toilet.

However, most composters in Australia are not ready to process Eenee’s innovative products yet. Eenee works hard to get things moving; hopefully, things will change. Still, compostable nappies are a great sustainable choice, and even though they might end up in landfills, they will still break down much quicker than nappies containing plastic.

How long will it take to break down an Eennee nappy in a landfill?

This is a good and valid question but very hard to answer as it will strongly depend on the environment of the landfill site it ends up, but you can have peace of mind that the nappy will leave a smaller eco-footprint for sure.

Also, your support of using compostable nappies allows Eenee to keep doing what they do and work hard to bring sustainable improvement in an urgent concern of the environment that millions of nappies go to landfills every day in Australia.

Would you be interested in giving compostable nappies a go? Underneath, we share a short video of it to make using compostable nappies a bit more visible.

Check out how it works.

Are you excited to learn more? Then, you can watch this video to learn how to use the compostable nappies underneath.

The verdict of compostable nappies in Australia VS biodegradable nappies?

Best compostable nappies in Australia-Pink Eenee reusable pull up to support compostable upad.
Pink Eenee reusable pull-up to support compostable Upad.

Eenee has created an innovative and unique product that will be the best compostable nappy in Australia as the only nappy endorsed by Compost Australia.

Eenee has excellent potential for a more sustainable future if the composting industry catches up with Eenee’s ambitious sustainable standards.

Do you instead use disposable cloth nappies? Or do you need a disposable option for occasional events?

Eenee gives you an excellent sustainable choice for a disposable nappy indeed.

Is Eenee more sustainable than biodegradable nappies when they will end up in a landfill? The truth is that the nappy without any plastic will still leave the smallest eco-footprint. But when choosing a highly rated eco nappy like the ones we mentioned, these are excellent sustainable choices and brands to support.

You choose products that fit your lifestyle and baby and feel good for you, and remember that there are brands out there who are not genuine in their sustainable efforts and try to sell their products by ‘greenwashing’.

You may agree that it can be challenging to judge genuinely. Accurate which product is truly the most sustainable choice, but a good thing to remember is that many factors affect the environmental impact. We should look at the entire life cycle of a product to measure its sustainable value; looking at the product’s disposable part alone is insufficient.

Would you like to learn more about compostable nappies?

We recently ordered the Eenee nappy trial pack, including a pull-up nappy and one package of compostable U-pads. You can read our full review of this product here.

If you are excited about compostable trial nappies, please let us know if you liked the nappies and your experience with Eenee products.

I hope you have found this information on compostable nappies helpful, and we would love to hear any comments in the section below.

Jude

4 thoughts on “What are the Best Compostable Nappies Australia 1.1-Eco nappies VS Compostable Nappies?”

  1. Hey, thank you for sharing this wonderful post. I adore babies, and I always find it interesting to read a bit more about it, even if I don’t have my baby yet. I think this will help a lot of parents; it’s very interesting. I have relatives in Australia, so I will forward this post to them to read.                                             

    Reply
    • Hi there, thank you so much for your lovely comment. It is a great idea to keep up to date of developing sustainable baby products and how lovely you share this with your friend. It is a great idea as many people are not aware that compostable nappies endorsed by compost Australia are available now. 

      Compostable nappies are such a huge improvement compared to regular disposable nappies full of plastic and chemicals which can take up over 500 years to break down.

      Even if you use biodegradable nappies now and are interested in taking the next step in your sustainable journey, it is word considering compostable nappies as it has great sustainable value. Yes, most biodegradable nappies make real efforts to make products with fewer chemicals and plastic, which is great and definitely an improvement compared to regular disposables. Still, none of them has created a nappie 100% free of plastic and chemicals like these compostable nappies.

      Reply
  2. Thank you for sharing your review about the compostable nappies. You shared an awesome idea. It is going to make a huge impact on the environment and keeping it clean from any kinds of pollutions. As the world will progress from time to time, our methods and concepts of things will change as well. I am amazed by the new technologies and new ways of saving this planet.

    All the best!

    Reply
    • Hi there, you are very welcome. I think we really have reached a turning point and many parents are seeking the most eco-friendly products to use for their babies and children. Disposable nappies are such a highly used product, and it can take over 500 years to break down for a nappie which is concerning. 

      Luckily, we got some innovative brands passionate about creating sustainable products, which helps us make choices that put less strain on our enviroment. 

      Thanks for stopping by and leaving us a comment.

      Jude

      Reply

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