Do you have a little one in nappies?

During February and March, the City of Stonnington invited the community to support a joint study on reusable nappy programs by taking a survey.

Council wanted to hear from parents, primary carers and soon-to-be mums and dads to find out more about how our community decides which nappy to use.

Ninety-one Stonnington residents participated in the survey – this input will support research on a potential reusable nappy program that will aim to reduce household waste that ends up in landfill.

The survey closed Monday 21 February 2022.

Project Update

Thank you to everyone who provided feedback on the community consultation on the Reusable Nappy Study. We heard from 91 Stonnington 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.

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. With more detailed information on appropriate channels in the Report. The high level findings can be found in the Executive Summary and the full report can be accessed in the Reusable Nappy Study Final Report.

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.

This project is supported by the Recycling Victoria Councils Fund, delivered by Sustainability Victoria on behalf of the Victorian Government.

Privacy collection notice

Zoho (a third party) collects and analyses your survey data responses. The information collected is transmitted and stored securely in Australia and only de-identified and aggregated data is provided will be provided to the City of Stonnington. You can access Zoho's Terms of Service here (External link). You may decline to provide this information by not responding to this survey. If you provide a survey answer, you consent to the storage of your survey answer by Zoho and its use by us as well as Bayside City Council, Boroondara City Council, City of Greater Dandenong, Glen Eira City Council, City of Monash, Knox City Council, Maribyrnong City Council, Maroondah City Council, Moonee Valley City Council, Nillumbik Shire Council, Stonnington City Council and Yarra Ranges Council. You can access Zoho's Privacy Policy here (External link).