Using disposables costs parents dear

Over a year, that amounts to a million tonnes of nappy waste.

A campaign led by the Real Nappy Association and the Women's Environmental Network wants to persuade parents to switch to washable nappies.

Campaigners say disposables create 60 times more solid waste than washable nappies, and take a long time to rot away in landfill sites.

They also use 3.5 times more energy and eight times more non-renewable resources.

The cost to local authorities of disposing of them is more than �40m a year.

And the "birth-to-potty" cost to parents is about �1,000, compared to �400 for cotton and other non-disposable nappies.

"Parents have shown that they like today's washable nappy alternatives - They are voting with their babies' bums," the groups say.

Later this month, campaigners will be mounting an exhibition at the House of Commons.

It will include still photos, videos, a Website, and even sample nappies, to give MPs "a scatologically correct" view of the impact of disposables.

Incentives

The groups believe the financial arguments will be enough to persuade many parents to switch.

One Hertfordshire hospital, for example, now puts every newborn baby into a cotton nappy. Campaigners say this could save it about �100 a week in clinical waste charges.

Mid-Sussex District Council is to introduce a subsidy for parents who use a service supplying and laundering reusable nappies.

The subsidy will be in line with the waste costs the customers save the council.

About �450 m of disposable nappies are sold annually in Britain.

Several high street chains are now to start selling modern reusable varieties.