Expectant and existing parents celebrated Real Nappy Week recently by entering a competition held by Bath & North East Somerset Council to win a £100 voucher to spend at any store or internet site of their choice, which sells washable nappies.
The Council was overwhelmed with entries that answered the question ‘How much money could you save per child by using washable nappies from birth to potty training?’ The answer was that by encouraging parents to make the switch from using disposable nappies to washable nappies, it can help them save up to £500.
Cara Sykes from Bath was the lucky winner of the £100 washable nappy voucher. She said, “I picked up the flier from Bath Central library and entered because I already use washable nappies and needed a few more for my son, so the opportunity of winning them was appealing.
“My husband and I chose to use washable nappies because we believed they are better for the environment and it also gave us control over what was going near our baby’s delicate skin. The cost was also important for us, so it worked out cheaper for us to use washable nappies rather than disposable nappies.”
The Council ran this competition to try and encourage parents to have a go at using washable nappies on their child.
Councillor David Dixon (Lib-Dem, Oldfield), Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods, said, “In order to tackle the causes and effects of climate change, Bath & North East Somerset Council encourages local communities to use a range of methods to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill. Using real nappies is one of the options that parents and guardians could use to play their part and I’m pleased this competition has raised awareness and understanding.”
Currently 8 million disposable nappies are thrown away every day in the UK. By the time a child reaches two and a half, an average child will have used approximately 6,500 nappies, which equates to over 10 tonnes of waste which is equivalent in weight to 70,000 double-decker buses.
This costs Councils up to £40 million every year to dispose of. If we all persuaded just one person to give washable nappies a go, washable nappy use would double and save an additional 53,471 tonnes of disposable nappy waste from going to landfill and £8 million of tax payer’s money.
For more information about recycling go to http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/wasteservices