I cannot believe that there are Christmas decorations starting to pop up in the shops already! I even heard on the radio that one woman has already written her Christmas Cards. I have to say I have a bit of a bug bear about cards. I feel that they are ok to send to people who you don't see very often, but why send them to family, close friends and work colleagues when you see them most weeks.
A few years ago I was very brave and put up a single card in the office wishing everyone a Happy Christmas and donated the money I saved on cards, to the NSPCC. I was actually quite shocked at the mixed response I got and have never done it again! I do save the cards I receive and make my own gift tags for the next year. Does anyone else have any money saving and recycling tips for Christmas?
I made some shocking discoveries about disposable nappies this week, that there are up to 200 chemicals in disposables and that some of them could be toxic. It is just so easy to pop the disposables on and not think about what is in them, but perhaps if the disposable nappy manufacturers had to list the contents of their product, we might get more parents looking at real nappies. Come on Go Real, let's start a lobby!
Have any of you seen the latest Lollipop nappy, the Pop N Gro. I absolutely love it! It is a lovely soft quick drying one size nappy, with easy fastenings and nice fitting around the thighs. It is a little bulky on a very new born, but babies grow so quickly its worth putting up with a fat bottom for a few weeks.
Talking of fat bottoms, my Christmas diet starts now……………….
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Hi Sandra
ReplyDeleteI was interested to know how the introduction of Knowaste, the nappy recycling business, and the investment from Birmingham City Council, will affect the Real Nappy Campaign in your city.
Will this not have a direct proportional effect on the waste minimisation initiative that the council employs? i.e. the voucher scheme, your work as a waste officer.
I look forward to reading your thoughts.
Hello Real Nappy Chappie,
ReplyDeleteKnowaste have now been given planning permission to construct and operate a nappy and adult incontinence product waste processing plant at Tyseley. They intend to have the plant up and running around April 2010 and the plant will have a capacity of 36,000 tonnes. As you will see from the Environment page on Go Real, there is 690,000 tonnes of nappy waste produced each year, but I am unaware of the actual proportion of nappies that will be recycled at Knowaste.
The City Council has not made any investment in the plant and has not made any decision about the development of a separate collection system for nappies.
Hi Sandra
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for getting back to me. I had previously thought that Birmingham CC had made an investment but I am obviously mistaken.
I must however express my concerns about the difficulty in collecting nappy waste when only households with babies and young toddlers have nappy waste and then only for a specific time period. I know Mr. Brown, CEO of Knowaste, has previously put forward an idea of a collection point a civic amenity sites for parents/public to voluntarily bring their nappy waste but this is (a) hardly convenient and (b) raises issues about health and safety in not only the transporting of but also the storage of such faecal waste.
I do find myself being caught in two minds about this venture; on the one hand we have a business that will be providing jobs within the area (around 36 I am lead to believe)and at this juncture with the economic climate that can only be a good thing can't it? but on the other if more people simply switched to cloth it would negate the need for such a facility and the £20million investment could be better spent elsewhere.
Maybe we just need to change the way we, those involved in the Real Nappy Campaign throughout the nation, do things. Maybe it is time to do a little 'thinking outside the box'!
Thank you for taking the time to read this Sandra and keep up the work with the blog
It is great to see this type of discussion taking place in our blogs. Go Real are currently putting a lot of work into looking at nappy recycling so watch out for more information on the website soon and then perhaps we can instigate some of that "out of the box" thinking!
ReplyDeleteHello again Real Nappy Chappie,
ReplyDeleteMy personal view is that I absolutely agree with you that the collection of disposable nappies could be a problem. Who would want a collection point near their home or shops!
Most new parents I speak to are amazed that their tiny little baby manages to double their amount of household waste.
I think if there was more publicity about washable nappies, more parents could be encouraged to give them a go.
Thanks for the positive comments.