Pregnancy Help Dunedin branch manager Chris Ottley said the national body was managing the dispensing of free cloth nappies from ''nappy banks'' in Dunedin, Invercargill, Canterbury, Auckland, Taupo, Taranaki and Central Hawkes Bay.
The banks would enable families to access the free reusable nappies and give people the opportunity to drop off second-hand cloth nappies for others to use, Ms Ottley said.
The service would enable families to support environmental sustainability by reducing the number of disposable nappies being dumped in landfills, she said.
''People do want to use cloth nappies because of the environmental impact and the cost savings. We want to make that easier for people,'' Ms Ottley said.
Kate Meads, of Tauranga, who presents workshops across New Zealand as the Nappy Lady, said she closed the nappy bank she launched about 18 months ago.
She gave hundreds of nappies to the new nappy bank because it would cater better to the demand for nappies across New Zealand.
''It got a little bit too big for me,'' Mrs Meads said.
She held workshops across New Zealand providing cloth nappies to people wanting to make the change from disposable nappies.
A cloth nappy could be washed more than 300 times.
''If one cloth nappy can stop 300 disposable nappies going to landfill, that's a good thing, because when they go to landfill they stay there forever - they don't just disappear.''
