Real Nappy Week 2007 is set for 11-18th March and will get off to a flying start with daily real nappy fashion shows at the Excel Baby Show in London.

The 11th Real Nappy Week will build on the success of previous years and be used to show how cloth nappies have moved from being a niche to a mainstream choice.

Cloth nappies in many trendy and easy to use designs are now widely available from an ever-growing number of local and online suppliers and some high street stores¹. New parents, however, still need accurate information and support, to make an informed decision about which nappies to use. Research for Women’s Environmental Network (WEN) last year found parents who hadn’t tried them thought cloth nappies were difficult and messy but parents who have the chance to try them out find them easier than expected; four out of five who tried them said they’d continue to use them after the trial period.² This year’s campaign aims to ensure that even more parents and carers have a fair choice of nappies.

Last year, Real Nappy Week attracted record support with the backing of over 90% of UK local authorities, and almost 600 worldwide events in the UK, Australia, China, Ireland, Mexico and New Zealand.

Details of plans for Real Nappy Week’s 11th Anniversary events can be viewed on www.wen.org.uk from early February.

Eight million disposable nappies are thrown away every day in the UK, clogging up landfill sites; Real Nappy Week shows parents how they can save money, save waste and benefit the environment all at the same time.

Real Nappy Week is co-ordinated by the Women’s Environmental Network working with the Real Nappy Campaign and supported by the Waste & Resources Action Programme. To find out how you can celebrate Real Nappy Week’s 11th anniversary or post details of activities log on to www.wen.org.uk/rnw

ENDS

Media contacts: Liz Sutton or Suzanne Simmons Lewis on 020 7481 9004.

Notes to Editors
1. The Nappy Finder service – www.realnappycampaign.com/nappyfinder allows parents to find all their local services including Local Authority incentive schemes simply by entering their postcode. It lists 1,100 different services across the country, including retailers, nappy agents (who demonstrate different types of nappy and answer parents’ questions), laundries and incentive schemes. These include 144 online services. Another 86 incentive schemes are listed on nappyschemes.wrap.org.uk

2. Research by GfK NOP for Real Nappies for London, a joint project between WEN and several London boroughs, between June 2005 and July 2006, showed that while parents were concerned about environmental impacts of nappies and the cost of disposables, convenience drove their behaviour. Parents who hadn’t tried cloth nappies held an outdated image of them, believing them to be time consuming and difficult, but 69% of those who had participated in pilot schemes trying modern real nappies found them easier than they had thought and 83% said they would continue to use them after the pilot period.

3. The Real Nappy Helpline – 0845 850 0606 - gives callers details of their local cloth nappy contacts whether they want to buy them to wash at home or use a laundry service.

4. 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 850 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 climate change.

5. Nappy facts
a. Cost Home laundered nappies could save parents around £500 on the cost of keeping a baby in nappies.
b. 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.
c. 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.

6. 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 government funding from Defra and the devolved administrations in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. WRAP is currently running fifteen programmes. The Real Nappy Campaign is one element of WRAP’s programme on waste minimisation. It is focused on helping parents to make an informed choice about nappies and increasing the availability of real nappies. The campaign has diverted more than 26,000 tonnes of nappy waste from landfill as a result of its direct support for local schemes in England. Information about this and WRAP’s other programmes can be found at www.wrap.org.uk.