Project Update
Thank you to everyone who provided feedback on the community consultation on the Reusable Nappy Study. We heard from 193 Nillumbik residents, and 2282 residents across the participating Council areas.
In numbers, the study:
- Reviewed nine Melbourne-based, four Australia-wide and three international reusable nappy programs to assess how effective they are at increasing the use of reusable nappies and reducing waste to landfill.
- Reviewed 12 reusable nappy brands, including a triple-bottom line assessment investigating environmental, social and economic impacts.
- Heard from 2,282 parents and carers (within the 12 Council areas), who shared their experiences of using both reusable and disposable nappies in the survey.
- Held ten semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders, including Maternal child health, Early Learning Services professionals and reusable nappy educators.
- Held ten semi-structured interviews with residents in participating Local Government Areas to provide rich qualitative insights from diverse cultural, income and household types.
- Hosted six focus groups were held with 46 parents and carers that included disposable and reusable nappy users, lower, middle and higher-income households, “cloth-curious", expectant parents, and culturally diverse parents and carers.
Key recommendations
The community consultation sought to understand the barriers parents and carers face to using more reusable nappies and less disposable nappies.
The Reusable Nappy Feasibility Study proposes two key recommendations.
- A joint Communications Strategy and Campaign, as first priority.
- Opportunities for community members to experience and connect over reusable nappies, as a second and related priority.
The two key target groups identified are expectant parents and disposable nappy users, driven by convenience.
Reusable Nappy Feasibility Study Reports
The high level findings can be found in the Executive Summary and the full results can be accessed in the Reusable Nappy Study Final Report.
