Notes
Funding:
North London Waste Authority: £35 cashback for all Camden Residents
who take up the service. The Community Recycling and Economic Development
(CRED) fund: £165,225.
Aims:
To place Nappy Ever After on track to a secure and financiallysustainable
future.
To extend the nappy laundry service to users normally excluded due tosocial
and economic deprivation.
To reduce the amount of disposable nappies going to landfill/incineration
from homes in central London by providing a practical and convenient reusable
alternative nappy system.
To make cotton nappies a norm in a highly populated metropolitan area.
Scheme History:
Nappy Ever After was established in March 2003. It was quickly decided
that in order to pursue its social and environmental aims it needed grant
aid to gain a high level of use in the areas surrounding its shop in Somers
Town.
Density for Sustainability was launched on 25 March 2004. The funding
is for 2 years.
Scheme:
Parents in the Sure Start areas of Euston, Kings Cross and Holborn, Kentish
Town East and West, Copenhagen and Hillmarton can sign up to use the service
for £6 per week. Other parents outside these areas pay the reasonable
fee of £8.50 per week.
Promotion:
Two part-time outreach workers/volunteer co-ordinators are employed, as
well as two local mothers, one who is a Nappy Ever After customer, the
other used cotton nappies for her children. They go to ante-natal classes,
breastfeeding classes, baby clinics and the other places where parents-to-be
and parents of babies and toddlers go. They give presentations and hand
out leaflets.
Scheme Monitoring: The following are monitored:
Customer numbers within the Sure Start areas
Customer numbers outside the Sure Start areas
Customer numbers who receive the NLWA cashback
Customer numbers not in receipt of the NLWA cashback
Recording reasons why customers leave the service
Recording numbers that leave the service because the child is successfully
potty trained
Number of volunteers who participate in promoting cotton nappies
Tonnages of waste reused
Number of visits to ante-natal clinics, breast-feeding classes
Ethnic origin of customers/volunteers.
Achievements:
One nursery is using the nappy laundry service
70 households per week are using the nappy laundry service
Waste diverted from landfill – Nappy Ever After is currently collecting
half a tonne per
week (this is an average of 7.6 kg per household)
Nappy Ever After's shop front, located next door to Brook Advisory Clinic
has raised
awareness of alternatives to disposable nappies
Nappy Ever After outreach workers have raised level of awareness among
midwives, health visitors, nurseries, Sure Start
staff and other health professionals
Promotion of reusable wipes
Advice and information is given on home-washing and the local supplier
of cotton nappies
NLWA has reduced costs of disposal.
Environmental impact:
London Borough of Camden has rented a commercial property that has been
unoccupied for a long period. The scheme uses minimal packaging; disposal
sacks are made from recycled plastic. There is a deposit charged on the
nappy storage bin so it is looked after and returned by the customer.
Finally, freight bikes are used for nappy collection, delivery and visiting
customers in their homes with a start up kit.
Future Plans:
Density for Sustainability is a radical initiative. The target is to serve
450 customers per week and to be economically self-sufficient by the end
of the period of funding. Once this level is reached it will be feasible
to establish more local shop fronts increasing the visibility of cotton
nappies, providing a washing service for people who cannot do it themselves
and enabling parents on low incomes to access this convenient alternative
to disposables. Presentations on real nappies and/or social enterprise
will continue to be offered to raise income to contribute to overheads.
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