Skip navigation to main content Text version | Accessibility help | Change contrast | Printer friendly Saturday 4 July 2009
Home | About us | A-Z index | F.A.Q. | Search | Contact us | Help | Site map | Login
Home
Your council
Business
Environment
Online payments
Abandoned vehicles
Abnormal loads
Are you moving?
Asbestos
Banish Rubbish
Building control
Community safety
Conservation
Contaminated land
more »
Housing
Learning
Leisure
Social care
Community
online newsNews
Rochester cathedralVisiting Medway
Key pages
Police
Schools
Support for disability
Customer First
Councillors

Waste management

up arrow : go up one level Waste management
Reusable nappies

Choice

Medway Council has a scheme that can help you if you are thinking about reusable nappies. They are good for your baby's health, good for the environment, cheap and easy to use.

Reusable nappies have changed since the traditional terry nappies. There is a wide choice of designs, styles and colours. Many even look like disposable nappies. If you are still not sure, why not come along and have a coffee at one of the monthly nappucinos?

Photo of a baby wearing a reusable nappy

Photo showing examples of reusable nappies

An important incentive

A £30 financial incentive, payable in three instalments, is being offered to parents who join the scheme. You can claim this when nappies are bought from a shop or the internet if a proof of purchase and validation form signed by a healthcare professional is sent to the Waste Minimisation Team at Medway Council. For a validation form, ask your midwife or health visitor. Parents who buy their nappies from a nappy agent approved by Medway Council can claim the incentive at the time of purchase.

Nappy library

This lets parents to try some of the vast range of modern cloth nappies available before making a big financial commitment. All parents in Medway can hire one of the comprehensive nappy library kits for a fortnight and find out which nappies work best for them.

Monthly nappucinos

Come along to a relaxed drop-in atmosphere, have a coffee, meet other parents and carers using cloth nappies, find out more about the benifits of using cloth, see the choices available and have a chat with like-minded people.

Nappucinos are run on the first Monday of every month (excluding bank holidays) from 10.30am to 12noon, at the New Art Centre, High Street, Chatham (www.thenac.co.uk).

Saturday club

The Medway Cloth Nappy Network (MCNN) and the Medway Branch of the National Childbirth Trust (NCT) are working together to run a new monthly Saturday Club in Rochester, if you cannot make the Monday events.

Photo of a baby seat for a car

For further information on either the Nappy Library, Nappucinos or the Saturday Club, please contact Jenny Hicks of Baby Kind (details below) or visit her website.

Medway Council-approved nappy agents

The Nappy Lady (Medway-based)
Phone: 01634 256 640
Email: tania.sullivan@thenappylady.co.uk
Website: www.thenappylady.co.uk

Reusable nappies are also available from branches of Boots the Chemist across Medway.

Some nappy facts

  • Reusable nappies are chemical-free and can be washed at 60oC.
  • Children in cloth nappies tend to toilet train about six months sooner than those in disposable nappies.
  • With velcro fastenings and nappy nippas, there is no longer any need for safety pins.
  • In Britain, 8million nappies are thrown away each day.
  • A baby requires over 2,000 nappy changes a year. This amount would fill more than 40 black sacks.
  • 94 per cent of nappies end up in landfill sites.
  • Disposable nappies consume large amounts of natural resources each year.
  • With flushable liners, all waste is dealt with by the sewage system.

Reusable nappies save you money. Over time, the average cost of reusable nappies is between a quarter and a fifth of the cost of disposables. Reusable nappies can be used for subsequent children, so the savings grow.

For further information contact:
email icon Email : wasteminimisation@medway.gov.uk
Telephone icon Telephone : 01634 333333
Mail icon Write to :

Customer Services
Gun Wharf
Dock Road
Chatham
Kent ME4 4TR

Minicom icon Minicom :

01634 333111


Related A-Z index
Naming ceremonies | Popular names | Partnership working | Recycling for business | Love food hate waste | A to Z of recycling | Banish Rubbish | Recycling points | Bulky waste | Carbon Trust | Fly-tipping | Household waste and recycling centres | Recycling | Blue box and bag collections | Sustainable business | Sustainable Business Bulletin - Impact of the Landfill Directive for retailers | Clinical waste | Waste management strategy

^ (back to top)

Home | F.A.Q. | A-Z index | Contact us | Privacy statement | Disclaimer | Help | Accessibility help | Web statistics