Wokingham Borough Council is once again urging those who use disposable nappies or are planning on using them to give reusable nappies a go in a bid to save money and reduce waste.

Real Nappy Week runs from May 16 to 22, and the theme this year is ‘Share the Secret’. On Thursday May 19 from 10am to 12pm there will be a real nappy roadshow at The Oakwood Centre, Woodley where residents can find out the secrets of how convenient modern cloth nappies are – no boiling, no soaking and definitely no pins.

They will also be able to find out how much money can be saved by converting to reusable nappies even if only for part of the time. A kit of all the nappies needed costs around £150 and can easily save £500 over the cost of disposables.

Real Nappies can be up to 40% better for the environment than disposables. This was the finding from the 2008 update to the Environment Agency’s Life Cycle Analysis Report. Unlike disposables, real nappies put parents in control of the impact they have on the environment, with the carbon savings directly related to how they choose to wash the cloth nappies.

Cllr Gary Cowan, executive member for environment, said: "Disposable nappies are estimated to make up around 4% of the household waste going to landfill, so therefore any reduction will help the environment by cutting down an estimated 1,500 tonnes of disposable nappies currently going to landfill." 

Waste and recycling manager Peter Baveystock added: "The roadshow will have a wide variety of modern and convenient nappies on display and experts on hand to advise the best system for you, your baby and your budget, so why not come along?"