30
March 2006
Nappy fashion hits the catwalk in 10th Anniversary Real Nappy Week
Diary
Date: 24-30 April 2006, Real Nappy Week 10th anniversary
Ten fashion shows to mark the 10th Anniversary Real Nappy Week reveal
just how far real nappies have come in the last decade. No longer just
an eco and economic option, real nappies are now a fashionable lifestyle
choice. The latest in sassy nappy style and high street chic will be
shown off on catwalks around the UK and abroad. Shows in the south of
England include Portsmouth, Salisbury and Stroud.
Hundreds of other events are organised to show parents what real nappies
are really like. From Land's End to John O'Groats 'Nappuccinos' will
be held to give parents a chance to enjoy a coffee and chat to others
who use real nappies on their babies. In the south, ‘Nappuccinos’
will be held throughout Dorset and in Cornwall, Crawley, West Sussex
and Fareham, Hampshire. Displays will be mounted in maternity hospitals
in Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Kent, Somerset, Surrey,
East and West Sussex and Wiltshire while the first baby born at Penrice
Birthing Unit, St Austell will win a birth-to-potty set of nappies.
Hospitals across Gloucestershire will give away free real nappy trial
packs to babies born during the week. Mountains of nappy waste will
be installed in Barnstaple and Bristol and roadshows will tour Kent,
East Sussex, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire. In Bristol, the Babeco Shop
is launching a low cost laundry service while Nappy Stash is launching
trial loan kits. More events are being confirmed every day and full
details are available on Women’s Environmental Network’s
website, www.wen.org.uk.
Biba Hartigan of WEN said: ‘There is now such a range that parents
can choose real nappies to suit their own personal style. With the new
easy-to-use designs, real nappies provide the performance parents demand
while giving them a chance to save money and save waste at the same
time.’
A record 820 supporters have signed up to back Real Nappy Week, including
over 90 percent of all UK local authorities along with 145 MPs, MSPs,
MEPs and Welsh AMs. With some eight million nappies thrown away every
day in the UK, authorities actively promote real nappy use to cut waste
and as a cost-saving option for families. And the Week is once again
an international affair with displays, fashion shows and other activities
planned in Australia, Hong Kong, Ireland, Mexico and New Zealand.
Real Nappy Week is co-ordinated by Women’s Environmental Network
(WEN) and sponsored by WRAP (the Waste & Resources Action Programme)
through its Real Nappy Campaign.
To find out how you can celebrate Real Nappy Week’s 10th anniversary,
or for latest details on events taking place near you visit www.wen.org.uk
or call 020 7481 9004.
ENDS
For more media information visit www.wen.org.uk
or call Liz Sutton, Biba Hartigan or Suzanne Simmons-Lewis on 020 7481
9004.
Notes
to Editors
Women’s
Environmental Network (WEN)
is a registered charity that campaigns on issues which link women, health
and the environment. WEN has been involved in Real Nappy Week since
its inception and has coordinated the week in its current form since
2000. Support for the Week has grown year on year: from 116 organisations
in 2000, to more than 800 supporters in 2006 – over 90% of all
UK local authorities – and hundreds of other organisations, companies
and political representatives. Other current WEN issues include food,
toxic chemicals and the environmental impacts of disposable sanitary
and continence protection.
NAPPY
FACTS
Cost
Home laundered nappies could save parents around £500 on the cost
of keeping a baby in nappies. You can buy all the nappies and waterproof
covers you need for your baby's nappy wearing life on the high street
for £50, about the cost of seven weeks’ of disposables.
Health
Disposable nappies are made of superabsorbent chemicals, paper pulp
and plastics, while real nappies are mostly made of natural fabrics.
Organic cotton and hemp nappies and organic wool waterproof covers are
available at a reasonable cost.
Waste
Nearly three billion nappies are thrown away in the UK every year. Most
(90%) end up in landfill;
that’s nearly eight million nappies a day. We do not know how
long it takes for the plastics in disposable nappies to decompose but
it could take hundreds of years.
WRAP
(the Waste & Resources Action Programme) is a major UK
programme established to promote resource efficiency. Its particular
focus is on creating stable and efficient markets for recycled materials
and products and removing the barriers to waste minimisation, reuse
and recycling.
A not-for-profit company, WRAP is backed by substantial government funding
from Defra and the devolved administrations in Wales, Scotland and Northern
Ireland.
WRAP is currently running fifteen programmes. Twelve relate to market
development, comprising nine material streams (paper, plastics, glass,
wood, organics, aggregates, tyres, batteries and plasterboard) and three
generic areas (business & finance, procurement, and regional market
development). Three further programmes relate to the wider resource
efficiency remit - collections, communications and awareness, and waste
minimisation.
Part of WRAP’s waste minimisation work, the Real Nappy Campaign
is an element of the Real Nappy Programme, which is focused on helping
parents to make an informed choice about nappies and increasing the
visibility of real nappies. Its targets are to convert an additional
155,000 households to real nappy use, and in the process divert 35,000
tonnes per annum of disposable nappy waste from landfill.
More information on all of WRAP’s programmes can be found at www.wrap.org.uk
