Casey Council cloth nappy, sanitary pads rebate: Would you take up offer?
A cash rebate for using cloth nappies and eco-alternatives to sanitary pads has been described as a “brilliant initiative” to help new parents and women be environmentally-friendly. But not many people are taking up the Casey Council offer. Would you?
South East
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In a bid to prevent thousands of tonnes of disposables from clogging landfill, Casey Council is offering cash for cloth nappies and eco alternatives to sanitary pads.
The council is giving up to $150 to cover half the cost of reusable fabric nappies and up to $100 towards reusable sanitary pads and sanitary cups — but the women of the region aren’t snapping up the offer.
Casey recently relaunched the program, which it first introduced 10 years ago, in an effort to lure new parents and women to a more environmentally-friendly approach to baby care and periods.
But despite census figures showing 5380 babies were born in the municipality in the 2018/19 fiscal year, just 43 parents have used the rebate, which is also paid on swim nappies, reusable inner liner for nappies, reusable wipes, wet bags and reusable nursing breast pads.
Only 35 women have claimed a rebate on sanitary items.
Casey sustainability and waste manager Michael Jansen said the council set up the nappy rebate program in conjunction with other environmental initiatives.
“We are a growth municipality and at the time of setting up the rebate we had the highest population of 0-5-year-olds of any local government area,” Mr Jansen said.
He said the city had a large population of families with babies and were high generator of disposable nappies in the landfill stream.
“The cloth nappy rebate aims to help offset the initial set up purchase costs of cloth nappies that was seen as a financial disincentive compared to disposable nappies.”
Mr Jansen said disposable nappies contributed to two tonnes of waste per child, which took hundreds of years to break down in landfill.
“Cloth nappies are no longer just the terry towelling squares that you might remember from many years ago. Modern cloth nappies come in many different styles and brands, they’re better fitted, have covers and liners and are more practical.”
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Casey Deputy Mayor Rosalie Crestani said the cash rebate was a “brilliant initiative”.
“Anything we can do to reduce waste and look after the environment is a bonus for our community,” Cr Crestani said.
“As a mum, I can definitely say there’s multiple benefits from this and I hope others follow in this direction.”
Many councils conduct workshops and promote cloth nappies but rebates seem to be relatively rare, with Queensland’s Brisbane and Logan city councils among the only other councils making similar offers.