Get your hands dirty with real nappies! You could save the world!

By PRSD, on Friday, October 23, 2009

In Devon a disposable nappy is thrown away every 1.1 seconds, according to Teingbridge council, which means more than 28 million nappies in poppy-piles – sorry landfills – across the county. These nappies take hundreds of years to decompose, so a move towards using reusable nappies would represent a significant step forward in helping the environment. To find out more, pop along to the Real Nappy Roadshow in Newton Abbot, on Wednesday, October 28. Meanwhile, we’ve got a case study from real nappy users, you know, from those who got their hands dirty…

CASE STUDY: The Simmons Family
Michael and Samantha Simmons from East Ogwell have been using real nappies for their twin boys Daniel and Louis (both eight-and-a-half months old) since trying a trial kit from Teignbridge in February 2009. They decided to give real nappies a go after seeing the amount of disposables they were using in a week and becoming concerned about the amount of landfill waste they were generating.

Samantha Simmons told the PRSD: “Having twins made us even more determined to go down the real nappy route, because we foresaw our own little mountain of disposables. We hadn’t appreciated that it would save us money until we found out more about the real nappies. I think real nappies are just nicer for your babies.”

Michael Simmons said: “In the first week we filled a bin full of disposable nappies between the two of them and it horrified us, because you don’t think about that. The other thing is that you can always run out of disposable nappies and if you do, it’s a nightmare. But with real nappies they wash and dry very quickly, so you will never be caught short.”

The couple were impressed with how easy the Velcro-tabbed nappies were to use, and noticed the boys found them more comfortable. They also reduced instances of nappy rash and helped the couple avoid the issue of running out of nappies.

Samantha said: “They are just as easy as disposables; we’ve had very little use of the disposables as we started using real nappies quite quickly. The best thing is the convenience, which is an odd thing to get across.

“It’s not having the worry that you have to make sure you are completely stocked, not having the problem of running out – it does take a weight off your mind, as you’ve got enough to think about and simply sticking a wash on every two days isn’t difficult.

“We’ve worked out that we’ve saved at least 4,000 nappies so far, and the boys are only eight-and-half months old, so there’s a way to go yet!

“The trial kit was brilliant. It’s a no-cost way of trying out a variety of real nappies, and to compare them positively against disposables. It’s good that you can immediately get the advice from the real nappy advisor as well.”

The Real Nappy scheme started in Teignbridge in April 2008, and since then the kits have been borrowed 68 times, with 70 per cent going on to make a full time change to real nappies.

Kits are available in various sizes, and contain everything you need, including instructions and accessories. A £25 deposit is required, and is refunded on its safe return. At the end of the trial parents receive a 20 per cent off voucher to spend on real nappies (up to the value of £300) or they can buy the kit at a discounted rate (subject to availability).

Apparently, parents can save at least £500 per child (including laundry costs) by using real nappies.

For more details on Real Nappy trials call Teignbridge’s Recycling Helpline on 0800 731 0323, email recycling@teignbridge.gov.uk, or visit Teignbridge’s real nappies site.