Liverpool City Council: $150 cloth nappy rebate helps family save $2,000

A clever mum-of-two has saved more than $40 a week thanks to a simple nappy switch. See how a southwest Sydney council has got behind the reusable nappy push.

A savvy mum-of-two has saved $2000 per year after making the simple switch from disposable to reusable nappies for her children.

High schoolteacher Amy Stokes from Luddenham in western Sydney, used reusable nappies for her four-year-old son Henry and one-year-old daughter Daisy to help reduce their household waste and rising grocery costs.

“You save more than $40 on Huggies nappies every week but using reusable nappies is also an environmental choice as you’re not throwing something away that takes 300 years to decompose,” she said.

The 28-year-old said using mod-cloth nappies helped to “ease the financial strain of having a baby”.

“We save a lot of money by not having to buy disposables. We still use a disposable overnight but we cut down our costs of not using six or seven disposable nappies during the day,” she said.

Amy uses reusable nappies on her daughter, Daisy. Picture: Supplied.

Ms Stokes is one of 120 applicants participating in Liverpool City Council’s six-month trial for cloth nappy and sanitary products, funded by the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) Better Waste and Recycling Fund.

Under the scheme council provides an initial purchase price rebate of 50 per cent, up to the value of $150 for reusable nappy products, and up to $100 for reusable sanitary products.

Henry and Daisy Stokes. Picture: Supplied.

Amy’s family made the switch to reusable nappies. Picture: Supplied.

Ms Stokes bought five nappies with the rebate, but recommends first-time families to purchase between 10-20 nappies to rotate between washes.

“Daisy is now a toddler so she probably go through maybe six [reusable nappies] a day, whereas a newborn baby would go through more,” she said.

A Liverpool City Council spokeswoman said council adopted the trial to help keep nappies out of general waste and reduce costs for parents switching to a more environmentally friendly product.

“An audit of kerbside bins by council found these (disposable nappy) products contribute 9 per cent of the material collected through the red-lidded general waste bin, second only to food waste which makes up 46 per cent,” the spokeswoman said.

Ms Stokes recommends parents to not be discouraged by a potential extra washing day for reusable nappies and to find a design that fits your child from newborn to toilet trained ages.

“If people are thinking about it, I really encourage them to just go ahead and give it a go because it’s a lot easier than you think once you get started,” she said.