REUSABLE NAPPY SCHEMES

What is an incentive scheme?

Local authorities know that reusable nappies reduce not only the volume of the waste they need to dispose of each year, but also the cost involved in disposing of it. To encourage more families to try reusable nappies many councils offer financial or practical help to families to offset some of the costs.

This can take the form of a voucher, cashback offer, trial kit or discount. Some schemes also have dedicated nappy experts who can help you choose the right options for your family, who are either employed by the local authority or their contractors, or by partnering with a local nappy library.

Unfortunately, reusable nappy schemes differ across the country, and your local authority might not offer a scheme, or they might not offer the type of incentive that you would prefer.

Schemes which are known to be in operation are listed below – look for the name of your council in the dropdown menu.

If your local authority has no scheme, why not write to your local councillors and ask them to introduce one? We’ve created a handy template that you can customise with your own details.

Benefits for Local Authorities

Research in 2019 by the North London Waste Authority revealed that around 1 in 10 parents have disposed of a soiled single use nappy in a recycling bin, contaminating entire loads and wasting money for local councils.

Using reusable nappies not only reduces the nearly 900kg of waste produced by a single child during their time in nappies, but it also reduces the likelihood of contaminated collections and the overall costs to local authorities of disposing of nappy waste. Local authorities can save up to £11 in their waste disposal budget for every £1 spent on reusable nappy schemes, on top of saving money for struggling residents.

Some authorities have introduced separate nappy collections and “nappy recycling” projects, but these require dedicated collections for nappy waste which must be separately processed and the UK does not have the facilities to process all of the 3.6billion single use nappies used every year in the UK.

If you would like more information about the benefits of introducing a scheme or improving your existing scheme in your local authority area, please contact info@nappyalliance.co.uk