Go Real supports the priority given to waste prevention and rewarding people who do most to reduce waste as set out in the government’s waste review. Reducing the 690,000 tonnes of disposable nappies sent to landfill each year by encouraging parents to use more real nappies offers an early opportunity to put the Government’s approach to the test.
Jon Rolls Chief Executive of Go Real said:“It has to be right to focus on reducing the waste we create and rebalancing our throw away society. Encouraging parents to use more real nappies will save them money and reduce the environmental damage caused by disposable nappies as they rot in landfill.” While real nappies are not specifically identified, there is plenty in the Waste Review to give hope for the future for the growing Real Nappy industry. In particular Go Real are pleased to see that Government “…will promote the use of life cycle thinking in all waste policy and waste management decisions and the reporting of waste management in carbon terms, as an alternative to weight-based measures.” This is great news for the sector, given that a Life Cycle Assessment of Real Nappies in 2008 clearly showed that Real Nappies can be up to 40% better than disposables from a Global Warming point of view.
Go Real are also encouraged by the emphasis on a new “grant funding scheme for innovative reward and recognition schemes, available to community groups, civil society organisations,” Go Real and partner organisations like Real Nappies for London have previously run innovative reward/incentives schemes for Local Authorities that have had a considerable impact, enabling them to tackle disposable nappy waste cost effectively. The idea of a dedicated fund that could support this going forward is welcome news to the sector which has a proven track record of diversion once parents have been incentivised to try real nappies out. Finally the announcement that the Review is to be followed by a detailed Waste Prevention Programme represents both a challenge and an opportunity that the real nappy sector looks forward to playing a role in.
Ex-WRAP Director and newly appointed Non-Executive Director of ReZolve, the Social Enterprise behind Go Real summed up the future for Real Nappies: “The waste review has established some important general principles. Promoting Real Nappies is the sort of specific activity which fits well with this approach and should figure in the new waste prevention programme. Starting children off with reusable products rather than disposable ones would be one obvious way to build the zero waste society the Government says it wants.”
