Notes
Funding:
A funding application to WRAP has been made. At the moment the project
has a small budget of £2000 - £3000 for work on real nappies
from the County Council.
Aims:
The Gloucestershire Real Nappy Project aims to bring about a shift in
people’s attitudes to real nappies by increasing the profile of
real nappies and thus achieving a more positive attitude to real nappies
and their use throughout Gloucestershire. The project emphasises that
real nappies are easy to use, cost effective and better for the environment
than disposable nappies which are wasteful of both resources and money.
Scheme History:
Although low key, some work promoting real nappies has been carried out
on the county over the last three years. The original county wide waste
minimisation campaign Get It Sorted (GIS) ran a series of waste minimisation
campaigns of which real nappies was one. The campaign:
• Produced leaflets for Gloucestershire hospital booking packs which
are given to all expectant mothers
• Produced displays
• Arranged Radio Action desk coverage at local radio stations
• Mailed all Health visitors, NCT groups and midwives offering sample
packs and information
• Supported the Gloucestershire Real Nappy Network (GRNN) during
Real Nappy Week 2004 with £1500 for leaflets, talks and radio coverage
• Get It Sorted also stocked a range of samples of different makes
of real nappies which could be borrowed by groups upon request
• Worked with PHP (Perfectly Happy People) a national real nappy
supplier with a direct link from the Get It Sorted website to PHP site
for ordering nappies.
Most of the promotional work and real nappy talks in Gloucestershire have
been carried out by Jayne Burke who set up the Gloucestershire Real Nappy
Network in 2003. This consists of a group of mothers with young children
who voluntarily promote real nappies in Gloucestershire. There is a large
demand on GRNN for talks and demonstrations not all of which can be carried
out due to financial restraints. Jayne also provided help and expertise
to GIS for the original nappy campaign.
Jayne started giving group talks, demonstrations, events, displays etc.
in 2002 when she organised 20. In 2003 she carried out 37 talks and demonstrations,
and in 2004 she carried out 46. Working on the average of 10 mums per
group, at least 1000 mums have had the opportunity to talk to someone
about real nappies. Some of the display boards were up for months so many,
many more must have seen real nappies. Jayne also promoted Real Nappy
Week in 2002 and 2003 and Real Nappy Month in 2004.
Last year Jayne and Gloucestershire County Council worked closely together
and in addition to talks and demonstrations were able to offer a number
of loan nappy packs to parents so that they could try real nappies before
having to buy them.
Scheme:
· Jayne Burke gives a limited number of talks and demonstrations
around the county. She also attends groups and events to talk to parents
and health professionals about real nappies and show them various types
of real nappies.
· A stock of demonstration nappies and display boards are available
· A number of real nappy kits that parents can borrow are also
available
· A leaflet about real nappies is distributed with hospital booking-in
packs for expectant mums and at talks, roadshows etc.
Promotion:
· Real nappies are promoted through the leaflet, through the county
website (www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/waste), the Get It sorted website
(www.getitsorted.org), and through articles in the local press
· A new poster is being designed and adverts will be displayed
in the next B4 school magazine and the local Foundation Hospital guide.
Additionally there is an advert promoting real nappies on all the large
notice boards at Cirencester hospital
· Jayne Burke promotes the use of real nappies at talks and demonstrations
around the county.
Scheme Monitoring:
Feedback forms are handed out for the nappy loan scheme and to the parents
at the groups/ events. Rebooking by the group/ event organiser is also
classed as good feedback!
Achievements:
· Loan scheme - reduction of nappies to landfill for the month
of the trial plus 7 out of 8 parents have gone on to use real nappies
after their free trial
· The talks increase the awareness of real nappies. A feedback
sheet is compiled with the number of parents spoken to
and any of their comments. At the last Baby Clinic event 8 out of the
14 mums thought that it was great to have someone
there talking about real nappies and showing them to new mums. The Health
Visitor would like a visit scheduled every 3-4
months.
· A real nappy leaflet goes out in all hospital booking packs –
ca. 5000/year.
Benefits of the Scheme for partners involved:
· Increased public and health professional awareness of real nappies
and the waste implications of using disposable nappies
· The loan scheme allows parents to "try before they buy"
and overrules the "but it's such a huge investment to make"
argument
· Jayne Burke Nappies Etc. has seen a small increase in real nappy
sales and she also provides information on local real nappy sellers at
the events.
Environmental Impact:
· Distribution of the Gloucestershire County Council funded Real
Nappy Loan Kit is done as much as possible during the groups/ events to
prevent further travelling
· Return/ collection of the kit is incorporated within Jayne’s
travelling schedule if at all possible
· Once purchased the Real Nappy Loan Kits can be continually circulated
- incurring only a small additional cost of replacement bioliners
· Leaflets are printed on recycled paper.
Future Plans:
To expand the scheme, hopefully with WRAP funding. Regardless of this
future objectives will be:
- Reduce the amount of disposable nappy waste going to landfill by increasing
use of real nappies
- Increase profile and usage of real nappies
- Increase opportunities for low income households to use real nappies
through incentive schemes, second hand schemes etc.
- Increase number of health professionals promoting real nappies
- Increase number of retailers stocking real nappies
To work closely with the new Gloucestershire nappy laundry and the nappy
laundry in nearby Ross-on-Wye. If the funding bid is successful it is
planned to start an incentive scheme so that parents can use the laundries
or buy real nappies at a reduced cost.
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