All about liners

What are liners?

Liners are a thin material that are placed inside the nappy and go between the nappy and the baby’s bottom.  They are designed to catch solid matter (poo), but for liquid (urine) to go straight through.

Why use liners?

The main reason people use liners is to catch the solid poos and make it easier to clean the nappies.  Liners are also useful if you want to use nappy or barrier creams or ointments as they protect your cloth nappies from any oil build up, which could prevent the nappies from absorbing moisture.  Another great reason for using the liners is that they create a stay-dry layer between the wet nappy and baby’s bottom.

Do I have to use them?

No of course not, they are entirely optional.

What are Real Nappies liners?

Real Nappies liners are made from a very thin layer of corn starch.  Corn starch means that we can make a liner that doesn’t disintegrate immediately on contact with liquid (such as urine) but allows it to pass through to the prefold beneath while catching solid matter (such as poo). 

Are there other varieties of liners?

Yes.  There are a couple of other liners. 
Bamboo liners, which are pretty much the same as corn starch but made from bamboo not corn.
Micro-fleece liners, which are reusable liners made from micro-fleece.

Why do you make your liners from cornstarch?

Corn starch is a biodegradable product.  At Real Nappies, we try to promote natural and plastic free as much as possible.  We don’t promote the use of microfibres and micro-fleece as every time microfibre is washed (and nappies are washed A LOT) little fragments end up in our water ways and in our oceans and currently 80% of the plastic in our oceans and found in our fish comes from microfibres.  You can read a little more on this in our blog here.

Can I reuse the Real Nappies liners?

To a point.  The liners can go through the washing machine about 2-3 times before they start to breakdown and you will need to dispose of them.

Can the liners be flushed?

Yes and No - it really depends on your waste water treatment system.  The liners have been designed to breakdown within the sewage system, and while some councils are happy for these to be flushed down the toilet, others are much stricter on what they want you to put into their systems.  If you wish to flush them down the toilet, you will need to check first with whomever is in charge of your waste water.  We are unsure as to how well they will work in septic systems, so we suggest getting in touch with your installer as they may know more.  Please always make sure that your waste water system can deal with them before flushing.  Remember to only ever flush one at a time.  We believe that poo should be dealt with via the correct treatment systems rather than landfill, so ideally the dirty liners go via those systems, but wet liners can be thrown in the bin, or even washed a few times.

If I can’t flush them, then how do I dispose of them?

There are a few other ways you can deal with the liners.  Remember they are biodegradable so they are able to go into your garden waste or compost bins.  If your council collects green waste, please check with them first before adding your dirty liners to your bins.  You can burn them in your fireplace.  Or if no other options available, you can put them in your general rubbish.

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