Wyre Forest council hoping for a nappy ending (From Kidderminster Shuttle)

Wyre Forest council hoping for a nappy ending

12:10pm Tuesday 10th May 2011 in News

TO celebrate Real Nappy Week, Wyre Forest District Council, together with Worcestershire County Council and Honeybee’s Natural Nursery Store, is hosting a Free Real Nappy Picnic and Family Fun Day.

The event takes place at Worcester Woods Country Park, Worcester on Saturday, May 21, from 11am to 1pm. Real Nappy Week runs from next Monday until May 21.

Parents and parents-to-be can find out all they need to know about real nappies.

The event starts with the Real Nappy Picnic, where there will be changing demonstrations, a real nappy fashion show, advice and information from families already using real nappies as well as local children’s services information such as from the National Childbirth Trust, Children’s Centres and Family Information Service.

There is also a competition to win a full set or day set of real nappies, a free goodie bag to the first 50 visitors and baby massage demonstrations and buggy fit trial.

Conservative councillor Nathan Desmond, Wyre Forest District Council’s cabinet member for resources said: “This is a really helpful event because the issue of disposable nappies going to landfill is significant.

“Over 3 billion disposable nappies are thrown away every year in the UK, 90 per cent of which are sent to landfill. One baby will use about 4,000 nappies between birth and potty training.”

To demonstrate that, Jo Duffield, Wyre Forest District Council’s waste minimisation officer, built a “nappy mountain”, which represented the amount of rubbish just one baby will produce solely from nappy waste.

Ms Duffield said: "There are 52 bags in the nappy mountain to represent a year’s worth of waste for one child whilst the alternative is 20 real nappies that would last the same child from birth until potty-training.

“I have two children in real nappies and find them so easy and convenient to use. Even our childminder is happy to use them. There’s a large amount of money to be saved with using real nappies, too, with savings between £500 and £1,500, depending on which system is used."

Parents can find out more from the waste prevention website, letswasteless.com or Wyre Forest District Council’s webpage, wyreforestdc.gov.uk/realnappies