Fight Your MP for Cloth Nappies. Council Nappy Schemes.
Okay, so you made the decision to use cloth nappies or your thinking about it. That’s brilliant. Making swaps like these massively reduce your household waste, your carbon foot print and make wonderful lessons for your children when it comes to being responsible for our planet. But is it really going to make a difference to the world we live in? You on your own? Well, unfortunately no.
I’m sorry to be the barer of bad news. But this climate change thing, it’s a biggy. So what can you do that will benefit your environment other than making changes yourself. You can hound the people that can make a difference that’s what. Your MP. The people we need to hold to account for this. Council cloth nappy schemes and incentives are one you can start with.
Many councils across the country have cloth nappy incentives offering vouchers and discounts of up to £50 to help you get started with cloth nappies. This benefits local councils because the cost to the UK for disposing of nappies in around £80 MILLION pounds a year.
If your local council does not offer this service it’s in everyone interest to write to your MP and encourage them to change this.
The Initial costs of starting with cloth nappies.
Starting with an initial full stash of cloth nappies can cost up to £400. This I believe is the main reason parents are put off using them. They want to help the environment, they like the idea of using reusables but when they see that initial cost they click away quickly, thinking it is just not an option for them.
If councils made new parents aware of reusable nappies, by for example giving information through Midwives and NCT classes plus advertised schemes to help parents buy nappies I think this would encourage a whole swarth of parents and would push cloth nappies into the mainstream.
The health of our enviroment should not sit on our shoulders.
Like I said above you switching to reusable nappies will not on it’s own change things. Neither will making sure you buy your veg loose. As a collective we can make a difference. But it should not sit souly on our shoulders. What we can do is hold our MP’s and representatives to account.
How to write to your local MP.
I’m going to make this super easy for you. Below you’ll find a letter I have written to my MP.
Copy and paste it.
Add in your relevant town/city/borough, add in any personal information or anecdotes you like.
Find your local MP’s email address HERE.
PRESS SEND!
Dear…insert MP’s name.
I’m writing to ask you about possible schemes to help parents in our area use cloth nappies.
Currently 11 London Boroughs and 34 other councils around the UK offer incentives to parents wishing to begin using cloth nappies. Offering cash back or vouchers from as little as £25 up to a very generous £100. Some Councils also offer trail kits for parents to try out.
Though cloth nappies will save parents a substantial amount of money over the course of their child’s nappy wearing life, especially if they go on to use these nappies on more than one child the initials cost of getting started can be too much for many parents.
But it’s not just parents that we need to help with the cost of nappies, it is too the cost disposable nappies have on our environment and on council resources. According to WRAP the disposal of single use, disposable nappies costs the UK tax payer £80 million every year. If we could help new parents get started with reusable nappies local authorities could save far more money on waste disposal.
It goes without saying this will help the carbon footprint of our town too. As I’m sure you are aware it takes up to 500 years for a single use nappy to break down, even if incinerated there is a carbon footprint attached to this.
I am therefore wondering why we do not offer such a service in our own town? I hope this is something that is on your radar and something that could be fixed in the near future?
Kind regards.
………… insert name……
Other ways to encourge MP’s to support cloth nappies.
The Environmental Nappy Bill put forward by Scottish MP David Linden in 2017 looked to support parents in having as much correct information as possible about the environmental effects of disposables nappies vs the benefits of reusables. Unfortunately the Bill failed to complete it’s passage through parliament before the end of session. But that does not mean the story has to end there….
What exactly did the “real Nappy bill” want to do?
Firstly the Nappy (Environmental Standards) Bill looked to hold disposable nappy brands to account when it comes to their “green” or “eco-friendly” claims. By labelling nappies as natural, bio-degradable or eco-friendly these companies are misleading parents into thinking that they are buying something and often pay more for a earth friendly product.
This simply isn’t true as once in landfill the time to break down is the same as any old nappy. The same goes for if the nappy is incinerated. There is little to no difference. Although the manufacturing process may use less plastic or chemicals, this is still a single use product which takes resources to be produced and shipped to you to end up in landfill after just a few hours use.
The bill is not there to end the use of single use nappies, or to shame parents for using them but to give parents all the information they need to make an informed choice for their family.
The bill also wanted to encourage local councils to roll out voucher schemes as I have spoken about above to help parents get started with reusable nappies.
The Nappy bill may not have made it through parliament but theres still a way to support it.
The Nappy Bill may feel dead in the water but we can still do something about it, by asking our MP to support an amendment to the Environmental Bill which would allow clauses from the Nappy (Environmental Standards) Bill to be included in it.
Below I have included a paragraph for you to add to the letter above if you wish send this to your MP too.
I also wish to ask for your support on the Environmental Bill. Unfortunately the Nappy (Environmental Standards) Bill did not previously make it through parliament, but if you could show support to make amendments to the Environmental Bill to include nappies this could help push out a nation wide scheme to help parents with vouchers, as well as hold disposable nappy brands to account when it comes to eco-friendly claims. I do not wish for a ban of disposables nappies as I know they are an important part of modern life for some parents but I wish that all parents have the correct information and help to make the right decision for their family.
I hope I can have your support when writing to your local MP. They may dismiss one letter landing on the desk but the more of us that write the more notice they will have to take.
I’d love to hear from those of you that decide to send letter and what replies you may receive.
Hannah xxx
