Memorandum submitted by the Nappy Alliance
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
We welcome the important role that local authorities
and regional government play in the fight against climate change.
Many local authorities in the UK have introduced Reusable Nappy
Schemes which have been instrumental in significantly reducing
the amount of disposable nappies going to landfill and thus reducing
the amount of methane produced. The Alliance therefore believes
that local authorities should be assisted with the funding and
administering of re-usable nappy initiatives and we welcome recent
initiatives such as the Real Nappy Campaign Limited and Real Nappies
for London in doing so.
The Climate Change Bill will offer unique opportunities
for local authorities to promote waste reduction and we hope when
the Government decides on which areas should pilot financial incentive
schemes it will favour those local authorities which seek to include
extra financial incentives to those parents who decide to use
reusable nappies.
REVISED WASTE
STRATEGY
1. The Nappy Alliance welcomes the Environmental
Audit Committee inquiry into climate change and local, regional
and devolved government. There is no doubt that local authorities
and regional government have an important role to play in the
battle against climate change, particularly in the context of
waste reduction. Local authorities across the UK play a crucial
role in providing various services and it is clear within their
work there are great opportunities to reduce current levels of
carbon emissions.
2. Waste is a major contribution to the
UK Greenhouse emissions. Landfill currently accounts for 38% of
all UK methane emissions, a greenhouse gas which is far more harmful
in terms of climate change than carbon dioxide. Therefore, if
the government is serious about lowering carbon emissions and
reducing the threat of climate change, it is clear that the current
levels of waste going to landfill must be addressed.
3. Nappy waste is the biggest identifiable
waste stream in household waste and makes up 3-4% of all household
waste. With increasing levels of recycling of other waste streams,
this percentage is likely to increase even more. The Environment
Agency has estimated that the decomposition timescale for some
of the materials and chemicals currently used in disposables is
more than 500 years.[1]
The paper-fluff and faeces should take approximately 100 and 10
years respectively to degrade. It is clear that increasing the
uptake of reusable nappies could considerably drive down the harmful
methane emissions currently emitted in the UK.
4. The Alliance has previously welcomed
the Government's recognition of the waste problem and the positive
benefits for waste reduction that reusable nappy use brings. Defra's
funding of the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP),
which for three years funded the Real Nappy Campaign, is a prime
example of a successful initiative. The Campaign's aim to encourage
155,000 households to use reusable nappies by March 2007 was an
important step and this led to the diversion of "approximately
23,000 tonnes of biodegradable nappy waste from landfill in England".
However, despite the obvious benefits of reusable nappies on the
reduction of household waste going to landfill in those local
authorities which took part in the pilot schemes, the Department
decided to discontinue funding the Campaign.
5. Many local authorities across England
already successfully operate a number of local reusable nappy
schemes which seek to encourage the use of reusable nappies amongst
households with young children. The Alliance believes that local
authorities should be assisted with the funding and administering
of reusable nappy initiatives, which are constructive and sustainable
with clear environmental benefits. It is vital that local reusable
nappy schemes continue to receive the much needed financial support
from local authorities, particularly now that central funding
through WRAP has dried up. In addition, in local areas where reusable
nappy schemes are in place, councils should be encouraged and
supported to effectively promote their existence through adequate
council recycling guides.
6. The Nappy Alliance is grateful to the
Local Government Association for its efforts to promote reusable
nappies and real nappy schemes amongst its local authority members.
In addition, the Real Nappy Campaign Limited which will be operational
from early 2008 onwards, will seek to promote the use of reusable
nappies and provide information, in partnership with WRAP, to
young parents and local authorities who are keen to reduce their
contribution to landfill.
7. Earlier this year, the Women's Environmental
Network launched Real Nappies for London, a London-wide incentive
scheme which seeks to help parents in choosing and trying cloth
nappies. It provides a prime example of how local authorities
have worked together to help young parents with the initial purchase
cost of reusable nappies through the introduction of a scheme
whereby vouchers can be exchanged for reusable nappies and accessories
at listed retailers or for a trial period with a nappy laundry
service.
8. The Nappy Alliance supports the Climate
Change Bill and the ambitious legally binding target to cut carbon
emissions by 60% by 2050. The Alliance particularly welcomes the
element of the Bill which seeks to introduce pilot schemes for
financial incentives to be piloted in five local authorities aimed
at improving recycling and waste reduction. This part of the Bill
offers a fantastic opportunity for local authorities to come up
with creative solutions for reducing waste. Building on the progress
of previous work with WRAP through the Real Nappy Campaign, reusable
nappies would be an ideal candidate for such schemes.
9. We welcome the Bill's provisions (Schedule
5, Paragraph 2) which acknowledge that incentive schemes in the
five pilot local authorities need to take into account the needs
of certain disadvantaged groups. However, we are concerned about
the proposals laid out in the Defra consultation on financial
incentives which preceded the Bill and which stated that these
disadvantaged groups should include young parents specifically
because of their dependency on disposable nappies. We believe
this would effectively encourage local authorities to give up
on reducing the largest category of household waste, disposable
nappies. Given the anticipated increase in the recycling rates
of other waste categories within household waste, the percentage
of disposable nappies in the total household waste is likely to
increase significantly.
10. Given the availability of reusable nappies
as a viable and user-friendly alternative to disposable nappies,
we are concerned that local authorities who do not include exemptions
for young parents in their bid to the Secretary of State to become
one of the five pilot authorities will be excluded should they
have decided not to do so in their bid in a drive to reduce the
dependency on disposable nappies locally.
11. There are many case-studies elsewhere
in Europe which show that variable charging can lead to a sustained
decrease in the amount of household waste going to landfill. For
example, a recent study in Schweinfurt, Germany, has shown that
after the introduction of a form of variable charging, the amount
of disposable nappies which ended up in landfill decreased by
33% as a result of parents switching to the use of reusable nappies.
WHO WE
ARE
The Nappy Alliance was established by independent
providers of reusable nappies to act as the trade body for the
commercial market of reusable nappies, to promote their use amongst
new parents and to address the ongoing issue of the 3 billion
disposable nappies which go to landfill in the UK every year.
The Alliance promotes awareness of the key benefits
of reusable nappies. Aside from environmental benefits, reusable
nappies offer consumers a choice, one which can be informed through
benefits to the baby, cost effectiveness and the wider environmental
impacts. In addition, considerable financial savings can be made,
with disposables costing as much as three times that of reusable
nappies, with an average saving of £500 per baby for home
laundered nappies.
December 2007
1 Environment Agency, Life cycle Assessment of Disposable
and Reusable Nappies in the UK, 2005. Back
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