Cornish real nappy campaign set for March launch

The project, provides parents with information and advice on the economic and environmental benefits of using washable nappies. Funded has come from the national lottery through the Community Recycling and Economic Development (CRED) Programme, as well as from the County Environmental Trust.

”The aim of this project is to convert at least 10% of all parents in the county to stop, or indeed not to start, using single use disposable nappies.
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-Cornish Real Nappy Project
The “Nappicino” programme involves holding informal, nappy-focused coffee mornings where parents and carers can find out more about using re-usable nappies. Cornwall had been running trials across the county in late 2004 as part of its “get real” scheme.

The nappicino events were seen as one of the more successful element of the real nappy project and are now set to be taken full-time. The get real project intends to run about 100 nappicinos each year throughout the county for the next three years.

The Cornish nappy campaign is being launched by Radio 2's Janey Lee Grace

Programme co-ordinator Joy Dent explained: “This project has outstanding environmental benefits by reducing the amount of waste going to landfill. The aim of this project is to convert at least 10% of all parents in the county to stop, or indeed not to start, using single-use disposable nappies.”

Parents could save hundreds of pounds by using washable nappies, Ms Dent said, adding that the average baby needs around 4,500 nappy changes before potty training. “Income levels in Cornwall are below the national average so new parents can often ill afford this unnecessary expense,” she said.

The project will be launched by Radio 2 presenter and self-proclaimed cloth nappy fan Janey Lee Grace, and is being backed by Cornwall county council, the Cornwall Primary Health Care Trust and the Environment Agency.

Gitty Ankers, regulatory waste specialist for the Environment Agency, said: “The Cornish Real Nappy Project's Get Real campaign is doing a great job in raising public awareness of the positive environmental, financial and social benefits of using cloth nappies, as well as reducing waste going to landfill. The more waste we can minimise the greater the benefit for our environment.”

• Organisers of the Real Nappy Week have announced that this year's event will run from June 20 – 26.