Council incentive to nappy switch (From Free Press Series)

Council incentive to nappy switch

10:15am Monday 13th July 2009

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NEW parents across Torfaen are being urged to dump disposable nappies in favour of real ones.

A scheme run by the council is giving mums and dads a £30 voucher to spend on real nappies for their little bundles of joy. The scheme runs until March 31 next year and it is hoped the move will help cut the amount of nappies sent to landfill.

From birth to being potty trained, babies will go though roughly 5,000 nappies each, enough to fill 156 bin bags.

Mum-of-two, Natalie Copsey, who uses real nappies on her six-month-old son Jacob said the switch has cut down what she spent on disposable nappies with her first son Joshua, two.

Mrs Copsey, 23, of Porthmawr Road, Cwmbran, said disposables were costing more than £10 a week, which works out at more than £1,300 by the time she finished potty training Joshua.

"We started using them when Jacob was six weeks old because we'd had enough of over-flowing bins, also there was the environmental issue. We've saved a lot of money using these things."

Mrs Copsey said the nappies can even be sold on, cleaned, once children are potty trained. Real nappies come in variety of colours and designs, with either fabric fasteners or poppers.

An estimated 200 million disposable nappies are thrown away in Wales every year and organisations such as Waste Awareness Wales have got behind a campaign backing parents to make the switch to help cut this number.

A starter pack for 17 nappies, a nappy bin and liners costs around £250, and nappies can be put in the washing machine and re-used. Parents can keep the same nappy as their child grows as the size is adjustable.

The vouchers are available to any parent with a child still in nappies and can be redeemed through South Wales Nappies or Fill Your Pants. Details of which can be found in the information pack which comes with the voucher.

Parents need to produce a birth certificate to claim their voucher and pack.

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