Disposable nappies spoil Miliband's green credentials

Published on Friday 4 December 2009 00:20

CLIMATE Change Secretary Ed Miliband risked blotting his copybook on the environment yesterday – by admitting he uses disposable nappies for his six-month-old son Daniel.

Taking part in an online chat on parents' website mumsnet.com, Mr Miliband cited an Environment Agency report suggesting the energy impact of disposable nappies was little more than for reusable ones, once laundering them is taken into account.

But he was taken to task by several posters on the site, who said the 2005 report overestimated the number of nappies families would get through, and assumed all of them would be washed at a high temperature, tumble-dried and ironed.

One mumsnet poster said: "Oh dear. That report was very flawed, Mr Miliband, and doesn't take into account the landfill aspect."

Another wrote: "I think that report about the nappies didn't take lots of things into account and said that you needed 24 washable nappies and that you tumble dry them all the time, which no-one does."

&#149 Unlike Prime Minister Gordon Brown when he was on the site, Mr Miliband was quick to name his favourite biscuit – a jaffa cake.