Councils call for producer responsibility on nappies

As this year's Real Nappy Week drew to a close (see letsrecycle.com story) the Local Government Association said that disposable nappies were costing authorities hundreds of thousands of pounds a year to dispose of.

The LGA fears that if the amount of waste sent to landfill does not decrease, councils could be facing fines of up to 150 for every tonne of rubbish they send to landfill under the Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme (LATS).

Now councils are calling for manufacturers to pay towards the costs of disposing of the UK's three bullion nappies a year – which costs councils such as Nottinghamshire around 1 million to dispose of a year.

Councillor Paul Bettison, chairman of the LGA environment board, said: “Around eight million nappies are thrown away every day in the UK. All eight million end up in landfill as there isn't any other way to deal with a disposable nappy. It can't be recycled.”

“It is high time that nappy manufacturers were made to take full responsibility for the life cycle of their products. It is totally unacceptable that the council tax payer is picking up the bill for landfilling disposable nappies,” he remarked.

Roadshows
As part of Real Nappy Week, many councils are encouraging parents to try real nappies by staging roadshows and “cappuccino” coffee mornings. Many also
have existing schemes in place to encourage parents to by re-usable nappies- such as cash back incentives of up to 80 for using washable nappies.

Cllr Bettison, who has been leading a War on Waste campaign (see letsrecycle.com story) said that re-usable nappies were a much better alternative to disposable designs.

He said: “Reusable nappies are the only way to prevent the nappy mountain landfill problem. Councils are on the front line against climate change and working hard to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill but ultimately we must make sure less waste is produced in the first place.”

“Paying families to take up reusables gives them the chance to save money, understand they are almost as easy to use as disposables and helps reduce damage to the environment in the process,” he added.