The Green Parent
Raising kids with conscience
16 May 2011
Real Nappies Prove Popular
New research carried out by Go Real, the Real Nappy Information Service, has revealed that nearly 50% of women aged 18 – 45 would consider using Real Nappies if planning to have a baby.
The research also revealed that despite the apparent willingness of prospective new parents, perceptions that Real Nappies are messy, inconvenient and difficult to use continue to persist.
The report, which was carried out in order to give up to date advice to Local Authorities on effective Real Nappy promotions surveyed a sample of just under 2,000 people and found that the vast majority of respondents believed Real Nappies to be a better environmental option with over 78% agreeing or strongly agreeing with the statement: “washable nappies are good for the environment” and 86% with the statement “washable nappies reduce waste”.
Go Real, a not-for-profit organisation which delivers advice to parents on Real Nappies found the results encouraging: Chief Executive, Jon Rolls said: “The research demonstrates a huge potential for growth in the Real Nappy market. The feedback also gives the industry some very clear indications of what is needed to help more parents use Real Nappies. There have been many product developments to address convenience and ease of use, so now we just need to increase product awareness”
Each year Go Real hosts an international awareness week to promote Real Nappies and is making use of the new research to help shape the theme.
Jon explained: “One of the most interesting messages to come out of the research was that when it comes to Real Nappies parents trust each other more than almost any other source of information and we want to capitalise on that during Real Nappy Week this year.”
The week, which will be held from 16th – 22nd May, is this year entitled: ““Real Nappies: Share the Secret”:http://www.goreal.org.uk/real-nappy-week” and aims to encourage parents who are using Real Nappies to share their experiences with others to help dispel the myths that Real Nappies are difficult or inconvenient to use.
Jon summarised some of the activities planned: “During the week we will be giving away hundreds of Real Nappy samples to parents or expectant parents who have been referred by current Real Nappy users, encouraging users to support friends in Real Nappy trials, providing lots of online content of real families sharing their experiences and we will be supporting Local Authorities, retailers and local networks to share the secret in their local area.”
Jon added: “The theme of the event should really encourage a community approach and fits very well with the Government’s Big Society agenda. Real Nappies have always been promoted at a grass roots level and this has inspired many voluntary groups and advisors to work in their local communities to push Real Nappies.”
In previous years the week has attracted the support of up to 90% of Local Authorities and activity in countries including America, New Zealand, France, Italy and South Africa. The week is particularly successful for UK retailers who notice a marked increase in interest that would help save millions for hard pressed families and divert significant amounts of waste from landfill.
Sarah Holmes of NappyKnow-how.com advised: “At last year’s Real Nappy Week we were a very new business, having launched our site at the end of March 2010, but over Real Nappy Week we really saw things blossom. Traffic through our website more than doubled, and I had several bookings to do talks at local groups.”
With Real Nappies now being stocked by major retailers including Boots, Mothercare, Waitrose and more recently supermarket giant Tesco it would seem that the time is right for the Real Nappy message to take hold.
Jon Rolls concluded: “We know that at the very least 35,000 parents are currently using Real Nappies, if each one of them let just one other parent know about how much money Real Nappies can save parents and more importantly how easy they are to use we would be looking at a significant rise in participation.”
More details on Real Nappy Week can be found at: www.goreal.org.uk/real-nappy-week
Melissa Corkhill is the editor of The Green Parent magazine, mother of two and author of the book Green Parenting
Bookmark this article
RSS Feeds 
Get notified when new articles are published via RSS (what is RSS?). Grab the Green Parent RSS Feed
Marketplace
The Green Parent is the UK's leading green lifestyle and natural parenting magazine. A truly inspiring read, TGP is like nothing else on the newsstand, with insightful intelligent journalism covering topics from babywearing and attachment parenting to home-education and alternative medicine. Each issue features regular columns on Organic Gardening, Seasonal Food and Drink, Green Travel, Ethical Fashion and lots more.
You must be logged in as a registered user to make comments. Login or Register