A campaign is under way in Kilkenny to educate parents on the environmental effects of using disposable nappies for their babies.
Kilkenny County Council plans to make the campaign an annual one and has designated this week the county's first "Real Nappy Week".
It has produced a leaflet for parents, health professionals and women's organisations promoting the use of alternative washable, compostable and environmentally-friendly nappy options.
An exhibition, with free admission, is to take place tomorrow at the Hotel Kilkenny, from 10 a.m. to 12.30 p.m., involving Irish suppliers of washable and compostable nappies.
The council has no shortage of statistics to demonstrate the need for its campaign. On average, it says, a baby will use at least 3,000 disposable nappies before he or she is toilet-trained.
An estimated 600,000 nappies are used every day in Ireland. Most are tossed into the household rubbish, and nappies are estimated to make up at least 4 per cent of household waste.
For a family with one baby, half of a typical waste bin will consist of disposable nappies.
As well as the obvious, disposable nappies contain a mixture of paper pulp, plastics, absorbent gel granules and chemical additives, making them a very difficult waste stream to deal with. Some parts are estimated to take up to 500 years to decompose, the council says.
The council's environmental education officer, Ms Sadhbh O'Neill, said the environmental benefits of using washable cloth or compostable nappies was clear as we faced "the growing mountain of nappies at landfill".
"Research has shown that the overall environmental impact of disposables (counting making, using and disposing of them) is greater than that of washables.
Also, modern washing machines can wash cloth nappies at lower temperatures, keeping energy costs down, and still achieve high performance."
"The age of the terry nappy may be over but the new era of well-designed, fitted cloth nappies is about to begin."