Queenstown Lakes District Council infrastructure management
accountant Louisa Huse, pictured with council solid waste
manager Stefan Borowy on her final day at work before
starting maternity leave, said she would "definitely"
consider a council proposal to supply new parents with
subsidised reusable cloth nappies. Photo by Matt Stewart.
Reusable cloth nappies could make a resurgence in the
Queenstown Lakes district if a council bid to get disposable
nappies out of landfills gathers enough community and council
support.
Council solid waste manager Stefan Borowy brought the idea of
subsidising cloth nappies before the council's infrastructure
services committee yesterday, and Wanaka councillor and
committee member Jude Battson even suggested a graphic of a
nappy-strewn dump be circulated to sell the idea to the
public.
In his report, Mr Borowy cites research estimating a single
child uses 6000 nappies by the age of 30 months and that it
takes between 450 and 550 years for a disposable nappy to
decompose in a landfill.
The idea was lifted wholesale from the Waitaki District
Council, which recently approved a subsidised cloth nappy
starter pack for new parents, due to begin in the new year.
"It's going back to the principles of our mothers and fathers
and grandmothers and grandfathers - it's taking that
principle and putting it in a modern form and it's a
fantastic way of minimising waste to landfill," Mr Borowy
said.
District-wide, eight tonnes of disposable nappies are dumped
in landfill (1.7% of the total) each week and Mr Borowy said
the scheme could divert up to half that amount.
Four different suppliers would sell starter packs to the
council at about half the retail value and the council would
sell to parents at a heavily reduced cost.
A $120 starter pack would be sold to the council for $60 and
then to parents for $10.
The nominal $10 fee is seen as a way of getting parents to
"buy into the concept" and Mr Borowy is preparing a "business
case" to show benefits against costs for the scheme.
The scheme has been capped at $5500 a year, based on a $50 a
pack council subsidy and 50% of parents taking up the scheme.
Mr Borowy said subsidies of $20 a pack had had "limited
success" in other districts.
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