We are excited to bring to you a joint Nappy Alliance and United Nations Environment Programme webinar on “Single-use nappies and their alternatives: recommendations for policymakers from Life Cycle Assessments”, taking place online on Wednesday 23rd June at 12pm CEST.

You can register here or by clicking on the below infographic.

In March 2021, the United Nations Environment Programme’s Life Cycle Initiative published a review of Life Cycle Assessments of single-use nappies and their alternatives. As the report highlights, “single-use nappies are one of the biggest contributors to plastic waste globally, with around 250 million thrown away every day. They have environmental impacts across their entire lifecycle and are also a leading cost for local authorities tasked with their disposal.”

Key findings from the review include:

“Single-use” is more problematic than “plastic” Therefore, policymakers are encouraged to support, promote and incentivise actions that lead to keeping resources in the economy at their highest value for as long as possible, by replacing single-use plastic products with the most appropriate reusable alternative as part of a circular economy approach. This will require systems change.
Reusable nappies have lower environmental impacts than single use nappies. Thus, an overarching policy recommendation is that there should be greater advocacy for and incentives to adopt reusable nappy systems.
Together with the United Nations Environment Programme and its Life Cycle Initiative, the Nappy Alliance is hosting a webinar to outline the background, methodology and findings of the report, as well as the implications and recommendations for policymakers.

The discussion will be chaired by Guy Schanschieff MBE, Chair of the Nappy Alliance. It will be followed by a Q&A session, giving you the chance to put your questions to our panel of experts from across the globe.

The panellists are:

Claudia Giacovelli, Programme Officer, UN Environment Programme, Life Cycle Team
Philippa Notten, Director, TGH Think Space and Adjunct Professor at the University of Cape Town
Ralph Regenvanu, Leader of the Opposition, Republic of Vanuatu
Larissa Copello de Souza, Consumption and Production Campaigner, Zero Waste Europe
Bettina Susanne Hoffman, Assistant Professor, Technology Management and Innovation, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro