Brisbane City Council wants more dirty laundry to be aired across the city.
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With disposable nappies making up about 3.8 per cent of household waste in Brisbane, the council is set to introduce a new cloth nappy rebate to encourage use of reusable nappies.
On Tuesday, the council's field services committee received a 163-signature petition calling on the council to implement a cloth nappy rebate scheme.
Field services chairman Vicki Howard said prior to receiving the petition, the council had been investigating potential initiatives to reduce the number of disposable nappies going to landfill.
“The nappy issue is a big issue for us,” she said.
The petition report, prepared by council officers, said the petitioners believed the initiative would support more parents in choosing to use sustainable reusable nappy options.
“Council is aware of the problem associated with disposable nappies,” the report said.
“In Brisbane, disposable nappies comprise 3.81 per cent of general household waste and are among the largest single-waste stream made up of a single product.
“Australia wide, it is reported that approximately 5.6 million disposable nappies are used each day, which equals more than two billion disposable nappies being sent to landfill each year.”
The council has designed an initiative known as the Sustainable Nappy Cashback initiative which will be introduced this financial year.
The initiative would allow one family a month, chosen by a ballot, to receive the cost of newly purchased modern cloth nappies, up to $300, and two supplementary prizes of $50.
The petitioners were advised the council would address the issue through the new nappy rebate initiative which would align with the Waste Smart Kindy program which is also being developed.
“A modern cloth nappy initiative has been designed to meet the needs of the Brisbane community and to support Council's waste minimisation goals,” the response said.
Cr Howard said the initiative was to find out what people were interested in.
“Certainly with that kindy program we think that its an opportunity for us to have a conversation with people about what they feel and also to encourage people,” she said.
“This is just one component of what we're looking at doing to keep waste out of landfill.”
The field services committee unanimously supported the response to the petition.
