This article is from page 22 of the 2008-04-01 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 22 JPG
“NAPPIES should not cost the earth” is the message being delivered by Clare County Council ahead of an unusual event aimed at encouraging parents to think about the alterna- tives to disposable nappies.
A Real Nappy Day will take place at Dunnes Stores Foyer in Ennis on Wednesday, April 9, from llam to 3.30pm, when real nappy suppliers will speak about their products and
their benefits for parents, babies and the environment.
A real nappy is one that is washable and is used over and over again. Sig- nificant advances in real nappy tech- nology mean modern parents need not return to washing nappies, safety pins and folding.
Research shows that by using real nappies, parents can save over €1,000 on the cost of keeping a baby in disposable nappies and at the same time protect the environment by di-
verting a huge amount of waste from going to landfill.
According to Joan Tarmey, Clare County Council’s Environmental Awareness Officer, “There have been amazing advances in technol- ogy, even in the past five years. Real nappies come with poppers or velcro for quick and easy fitting, are incred- ibly soft and comfortable, and are available in lots of cute styles, shapes and colours. So, you get many of the benefits of disposable nappies, more
money in your pocket and you are helping the environment.
“Using real nappies helps prevent up to 2.5 tonnes of waste being gen- erated. So that’s good news for the environment. But you can buy your entire real nappy kit for 2.5 years for about €300.
“The same amount of money would only buy 12 to 16 weeks of dispos- able nappies. So it makes economic sense too.”
The upcoming information event in
Ennis will also feature the launch of the new Limerick/Clare/Kerry Real Nappy Voucher Initiative. There are 10 €150 vouchers to be won by par- ents of babies of 18 months or under who agree to participate in surveys at three, six and 12 months once they start using the real nappies.
Entry forms for the vouchers will be available on April 9 at the real nappy event in Ennis and will be ac- cepted until April 17, after which 10 lucky winners will be drawn.