Working partnerships to encourage the use of cloth nappies and so reduce waste, are the focus of Real Nappy Week 2002. The dates for your diary are 22nd to 28th April 2002.

Real Nappy Week, now a well-established annual event, is jointly organised by the Women's Environmental Network's Real Nappy Project, the Real Nappy Association and the National Association of Nappy Services (NANS). It focuses attention on the environmental impact of nappies and raises public awareness of the availability of shaped and fitted modern cloth nappies.

Waste Reduction
Responsible for 4% of household waste in the UK, nappies provide a prime opportunity to reduce the rubbish in our dustbins. Costing each local authority hundreds thousands of pounds per year to dispose of (Bristol City, for example, spends £500,000 per year) it is not surprising that nappy schemes now play a key role in local authorities' waste strategies.

Working Partnerships
While there is an obvious incentive for local authorities to promote the use of real nappies they are most effective when working in partnership with the NHS and local businesses. As local conditions vary, no two schemes are identical.
Examples of successful partnerships include:
· A hospital scheme funded by a council offering parents of newborn babies a choice of disposable or hospital-laundered cloth nappies;
· an educational programme implemented by a council and the Health Promotions Department and working with a local company, to train midwives and health visitors to disseminate information on cloth nappies to local parents;
· partnerships between hospitals, local authorities and local businesses to offer financial incentives to users of cloth nappies.
One such scheme has, in just five months, saved 1,000 tonnes of waste and created four new businesses and nine part-time jobs.

Creating Jobs
Not only do real nappies reduce waste and benefit the environment but they also boost the economy by creating new jobs.

Real nappies don't cost the earth…anything else is just rubbish!
ENDS
If you want to do a feature on any of the above listed schemes, or for further information contact:
Elizabeth Hartigan, Maeve Murphy or Liz Sutton
Tel: 020 7481 9004 Fax: 020 7481 9144 email:nappies@wen.org.uk