"I think that because many women are waiting until they're older to have children, they know more about what's going on in the world," said Annette Kuester, 32 and pregnant for the first time.

"We've had more time to read scary stories about the environment and talk to more people about all the bad things we might expose our children to. We also have far more choice than our own mothers did."

Over the past few years, ever-increasing concerns over the environment, as well as worries about exposing newborns to chemicals and synthetic materials, have forced the issue to the top of many a British mum's agenda.

There is no denying that considerable resources -- both natural (paper, from wood) and unnatural (super-absorbent polymer gels that whisk moisture away from baby's bum) -- go into making up a disposable nappy.

As one mother said: "I once dropped a clean disposable and it exploded, and all these little plastic beads rolled out. What's up with that?"

That said, this mother of twins considers disposables the lesser of two evils. "Pee into a cloth nappy and you wear the pee all night. Pee into a disposable nappy -- and who knows where the pee goes?"

The question is not whether there's an environmental impact, it's how much.

While statistics vary wildly, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs advises that England and Wales alone produce well over 100 million tonnes of waste, growing at three percent per year.

Of this, up to 8.0 percent comes from households.

But Tracy Stewart, director general of the trade association Absorbent Hygiene Products Manufacturers Association (www.nappyinformationservice.co.uk) says pointing a finger at disposable nappies is a diversionary tactic.

"Used disposables actually only account for 0.1 percent of all landfill rubbish," said Stewart. "Whether this biodegrades is not down to what's in it, it's down to how the landfill is managed."

A recent study by the Environment Agency found that the environmental impact of both disposables and reusables was equally bad, but the report managed to raise more questions than it answered.

Even so, the average child uses, conservatively, 5,800 nappies in its lifetime -- about the weight of that gas-guzzling family car -- or seven million a day in Britain alone.

That's a lot of nappies.

So while disposables may be the default choice for 95 percent of users, surely the case for washable nappies -- also known as "real" nappies -- should be easy to make.

Many groups with some combination of parenting, environmental and commercial interests -- such as The Real Nappy Campaign, The Nappy Lady and Kittykins -- are eager to show there is less hassle than people think.

"When I had my first child 10 years ago, there was so little information out there about how to use them, what to do, where to get them -- that even though I wanted to use cloth nappies, after a few bad experiences, I just gave up," said Hilary Vick.

She persisted however with her second child, and three years ago opened Nappy Ever After, a real nappy hire-and-laundry service in the London borough of Camden.

Now 80 percent of local government authorities across Britain support the real nappy movement, according to Sara Seaton, policy and projects officer for London's Camden Council Environment Department.

"We provide a combination of subsidy, guidance and information to make people aware that there's a choice, and that nappies have come a long way since the old-fashioned, terry-toweling ones our mothers had to boil," she said.

Camden, which started promoting a real nappy scheme in September 2003, offers participants 51 pounds (75 euros, 90 dollars) toward the cost of using an external laundry service.

Then there's the cute factor. "These days, you can get nappies made from silk and fleece, as well as cotton," said Seaton, "and they come in all different colors and patterns.

"They're massively comfortable for a baby to wear, it's like slipping into fresh bed sheets after every change."

Although the percentage of real nappy users is growing slowly, it is still infinitesimal compared with that of the disposables.

Nappy Ever After's service, which covers laundry pick-up and delivery, and nappy rental, costs 8.50 pounds a week, compared with about 6.00 pounds for a week's worth of disposables.

But many real nappy fans are under no illusions that theirs is an uphill battle wherein sceptics are won over by evangelical friends and relatives.

Eco-nappies, which are one-use only and may or may not degrade more easily than standard disposables, seek to be a kind of 'third way' nappy and occupy a somewhat hazy space between the two.

"I'm well aware of the environmental issue, and I feel very guilty. But with a newborn, there's just so much work and cloth nappies just seem like an unnecessary worry," said journalist Anastasia Edwards, 37, with a 12-week-old baby.

"I compromise by using the most eco-friendly nappies I can find."

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