She will also be highlighting the difficulty parents face when trying to send their children to nursery in washable nappies.
Local parent Anna Baker said,
"This is the first nursery I have found that is prepared to take my son in real nappies. The staff here have been very relaxed about it. Other nurseries were concerned that having dirty nappies on site would be a health and safety problem, but this does not have to be the case. There are an increasing number of nurseries nationally using cloth nappies, either washing the nappies on site or employing a nappy laundering service."
Nappies make up approximately 4% of domestic waste and cost local authority hundreds of thousands of pounds in disposal costs per year. The cost to nurseries and parents of using a nappy laundering services is similar or less than the cost of disposables. In addition, nurseries can save money spent on clinical waste disposal.
Sue Luxton said,
"Greenwich and Lewisham Councils should both be doing more to promote the use of nappy laundering services to nurseries, and offering incentives for parents to put their children in real nappies. They could follow the example set by Bromley Council, who give £30 to parents using cloth nappies as a reward for helping the waste minimisation campaign."
Real Nappy Week was launched on Monday by Green Deputy Mayor Jenny Jones, who said,
"Most parents simply don’t realise the impact of using disposable nappies. They are creating a waste problem that those very babies, and their babies, will have to clean up in 20 or even 100 years’ time. I am delighted to support Real Nappy Week which is organised by the Women’s Environmental Network to inform parents of the choices available to them. Three quarters of London’s local authorities support the Week and I welcome schemes run by London councils to promote the use of cloth nappies thereby reducing household waste amounts. Disposable nappies create an unnecessary amount of waste with up to 5,400 nappies used per baby. By contrast a baby only needs 18-24 real nappies."
NOTES FOR EDITORS
Greenwich & Lewisham Green Parties are compiling a directory of nurseries that will take children with cloth nappies, which will be made available to parents. If you run a nursery and are happy to take children in real nappies or if you are a parent whose child wears real nappies at nursery, please call Lewisham Green Party on 020 86900658 or e-mail us on info@lewisham.greenparty.org.uk.
For further information please contact Anna Baker 020 8488 9030 or 07789 742 031.
Sue Luxton is the Green Party candidate for Greenwich & Lewisham GLA Constituency. She is 30 years old, lives in Ladywell and works as a teacher of English as a foreign language. She has been an active campaigner for Trade Justice and against the Iraq War.
29 March-4 April is Real Nappy Week, the annual focus of the nappy waste prevention campaign. 8 million nappies are thrown away every day in the UK, costing each local authority hundreds of thousands of pounds in disposal costs per year (Bristol City, for example, spends £500,000 per year).
Now in its 8th year, Real Nappy Week is coordinated by Women’s Environmental Network to raise awareness of the environmental impacts of nappies and to inform parents about modern shaped, self-fastening nappies and laundry services.
Nappy waste reduction is a key part of the government’s new waste reduction strategy. Real nappies and home composting have been chosen to spearhead the government’s new waste minimisation strategy with a target to convert an additional 155,000 households to real nappy use by April 2006, yet Greenwich and Lewisham Councils are doing little to promote the use of cloth nappies. Lewisham Council has signed up to Real Nappy Week, but its current support is limited to a rather old cloth nappy display board at Lewisham Hospital. Greenwich Council has not even signed up to Real Nappy Week.
Home laundered nappies could save parents £500 on the cost of keeping a baby in nappies. You can kit out your baby in real nappies on the high street for under £70. The same amount of money will only buy ten to twelve weeks of disposables. Even taking into account the total cost of laundering nappies at home (about £50 a year) the savings are still considerable.
Bromley Council has promoted the use of cloth nappies for approximately ten years involving midwives, health visitors and local parents. Earlier this year government funding allowed the council to give £30 to parents using cloth nappies as a reward for helping the waste minimisation campaign. Talks are given at ante and post natal groups; early pregnancy workshops at the local maternity units are attended; and ‘Clothie’ Coffee mornings are held. Posters about the scheme are displayed in local maternity units and doctors’ surgeries while fliers are put in the Booking In packs for the local maternity units. The scheme is advertised in The Section’s six monthly waste and recycling news that goes to all households in the Borough.
ENDS