I know what I think...it's dissapointing to see that following a submission to DEFRA as part of their Call to Evidence for the waste Review, an Early Day Motion in Parliament proposed by Austin Mitchell on behalf of Go Real and supported by 19 MP's including Caroline Lucas and Zac Goldsmith, lots of lobbying activity by the Real Nappy Alliance and a debate in Parliament on reusable products with specific focus on the impact of disposable nappies, there is no mention at all in the waste Review of the impact of disposable nappies, let alone one use disposable products in their entirety, and no mention of the benefits of reusable nappies and the savings to both local authorities and parents from using them.
I guess the upshot is that the report is already receiving critical feedback for its lack of ambition, with Friends of the Earth already saying it takes waste management back in time and will not deliver the Governments committment to a Zero Waste Economy.
So whilst real nappies may not feature, nothing much else seems to feature either!
There are a few areas for encouragement and Go Real will be releasing a statement later today/tomorrow on what happens next.
Keep up the good work, plenty to suggest real nappies can still play a part in future waste prevention and nothing to suggest it can't.
Jon Rolls
Chief Exec
Go Real
Tuesday, 14 June 2011
Thursday, 19 May 2011
Lots of New Converts
What has been great about this Real Nappy Week is the amount of people who seem to be trying Real Nappies for the first time and absolutely loving it!! Charley, who has been taking on the Real Nappy Week challenge is a prime example, she is so smitten she is promoting them to her other reluctant friends. Then their are the Brew Drinking Thinkings team who tested a whole range of Real Nappies and on the whole were really positive. It just shows that by being open minded and just giving Real Nappies a try you can surprise yourself!
So I want everyone that reads this to think of one person who you think should really reconsider their nappy choice, even if they've been reluctant in the past, and then nominate them to the Great Real Nappy Giveaway. That one lovely free sample dropping through their letterbox might just be the incentive that they need!!
So I want everyone that reads this to think of one person who you think should really reconsider their nappy choice, even if they've been reluctant in the past, and then nominate them to the Great Real Nappy Giveaway. That one lovely free sample dropping through their letterbox might just be the incentive that they need!!
Tuesday, 17 May 2011
Day Two and the Daily Mail!
So Real Nappy Week kicked off yesterday, to much excitement and celebration! Unfortunately it was heralded in by an ill informed Daily Mail article on Local Authority schemes. The article made a major issue of a relatively small investment in comparison to the amount spent on disposing of single use nappies.
It also referred back to the first EA report which we are all fed up of hearing about (we can feel a theme for next year coming on)!! For any one brand new to Real Nappies let me reassure you that the most recent research found that you could reduce your environmental impact when compared to using disposables very easily. All you need to do is wash in full loads, use an A rated washing machine, avoid tumble drying and use the nappies again on a second child. Just one of these actions will mean that you are lowering your global warming impact when compared to disposable use. Take a look at the info on our website for more detail.
We have responded to the the Daily Mail and you can read our response here. But it wasn't all bad news, there was lots of positive regional press, there have been features in the major baby magazines and Chris Tarrant also gave us a mention yesterday on Radio Two!
Now, back to Sharing the Secret!! Our stars today are Janet and Dave who are parents to Rebecca. Janet chatted to us about her experiences and about how her mum helped her to make her decision whilst Dave gives us the Dad's point of view! We also spoke to Tracey Smith who after using Real Nappies on her own three children and on her three grandchildren, now volunteers as a Real Nappy Champion. You can find out more and listen to their interviews here.
The Nappy Giveaway also got off to a great start but there are plenty of them left so do keep referring your friends! We are currently restricting people to one referral each to allow everyone a chance and please do remember to make sure you add an entry in each box. Good luck!
I also want to quickly mention our Real Nappy Week challenge volunteer Charley who is now so au fait with Real nappies that she has got the flat nappy folds down! Her sister Vicky tells me that she is now so convinced by Real Nappies that she is going to start persuading her friends - Now that's what I call successful Sharing the Secret!
It also referred back to the first EA report which we are all fed up of hearing about (we can feel a theme for next year coming on)!! For any one brand new to Real Nappies let me reassure you that the most recent research found that you could reduce your environmental impact when compared to using disposables very easily. All you need to do is wash in full loads, use an A rated washing machine, avoid tumble drying and use the nappies again on a second child. Just one of these actions will mean that you are lowering your global warming impact when compared to disposable use. Take a look at the info on our website for more detail.
We have responded to the the Daily Mail and you can read our response here. But it wasn't all bad news, there was lots of positive regional press, there have been features in the major baby magazines and Chris Tarrant also gave us a mention yesterday on Radio Two!
Now, back to Sharing the Secret!! Our stars today are Janet and Dave who are parents to Rebecca. Janet chatted to us about her experiences and about how her mum helped her to make her decision whilst Dave gives us the Dad's point of view! We also spoke to Tracey Smith who after using Real Nappies on her own three children and on her three grandchildren, now volunteers as a Real Nappy Champion. You can find out more and listen to their interviews here.
The Nappy Giveaway also got off to a great start but there are plenty of them left so do keep referring your friends! We are currently restricting people to one referral each to allow everyone a chance and please do remember to make sure you add an entry in each box. Good luck!
I also want to quickly mention our Real Nappy Week challenge volunteer Charley who is now so au fait with Real nappies that she has got the flat nappy folds down! Her sister Vicky tells me that she is now so convinced by Real Nappies that she is going to start persuading her friends - Now that's what I call successful Sharing the Secret!
Monday, 16 May 2011
Real Nappy Week is Here!!!
Oh my goodness!!! The build up to Real Nappy Week this year has been busier than ever before with people getting in on the act nice and early and keeping the whole Go Real team incredibly busy for weeks! So what have we been up to and what's going on now it has all started?!
Well firstly we have been chatting to a whole load of parents about their experiences of using Real Nappies and will be posting the interviews on the Go Real website every day. We have spoken to a mum with twins, a mum with 10 children(!), a mum who enjoys a giggle whilst changing nappies on the go; and we have spoken to a couple of dads as well! Today you can hear from Ruth Bevington who uses Real Nappies even though she has no outside drying space and no tumble drier. We also spoke to Rose who manages a Real Nappy laundry service called Nappy Bliss and Jenny Carr, the afore mentioned mum of ten!
We have got some beautiful babies in our Cute in Cloth slideshow which is part of our competition where you can win a holiday to the Green in Cornwall. Their parents have been telling us why they love Real Nappies and it is great to see so many different varieties on show!!
Our very exciting nappy giveway is now open so you can refer your friends for a free Real Nappy sample. Make sure that you have your friends' contact details before entering, otherwise you won't be able to complete the form. It is an excellent opportunity for people to give Real Nappies a go for free. We are confident that they will like them just like Charley who has been taking part in the Real Nappy Week challenge with a little help from her sister Vicky. Charley started off pretty reluctantly but she is now a complete convert!
As well as all of this there are loads of special offers and events taking place throughout the week.
Well firstly we have been chatting to a whole load of parents about their experiences of using Real Nappies and will be posting the interviews on the Go Real website every day. We have spoken to a mum with twins, a mum with 10 children(!), a mum who enjoys a giggle whilst changing nappies on the go; and we have spoken to a couple of dads as well! Today you can hear from Ruth Bevington who uses Real Nappies even though she has no outside drying space and no tumble drier. We also spoke to Rose who manages a Real Nappy laundry service called Nappy Bliss and Jenny Carr, the afore mentioned mum of ten!
We have got some beautiful babies in our Cute in Cloth slideshow which is part of our competition where you can win a holiday to the Green in Cornwall. Their parents have been telling us why they love Real Nappies and it is great to see so many different varieties on show!!
Our very exciting nappy giveway is now open so you can refer your friends for a free Real Nappy sample. Make sure that you have your friends' contact details before entering, otherwise you won't be able to complete the form. It is an excellent opportunity for people to give Real Nappies a go for free. We are confident that they will like them just like Charley who has been taking part in the Real Nappy Week challenge with a little help from her sister Vicky. Charley started off pretty reluctantly but she is now a complete convert!
As well as all of this there are loads of special offers and events taking place throughout the week.
Friday, 1 April 2011
Buried in Nappies!
I am writing this from behind a growing stack of boxes, all containing lots of gorgeous new nappies for 135 toolkits bound for the community midwives based in Surrey. Every time the postman calls I disapear further and further from view, but it is very exciting to see all the new designs and patterns and very amusing to hear Tara's squeals of enthusiasm when something catches her eye!
We will also be sending DVDs and nappy guides for the maternity wards and the midwifery students to ensure that the message really gets out there and we are really hopeful that this will increase awareness of Real Nappies generally and Surrey's trial kit scheme.
The Real Nappy Giveaway planned for Real Nappy Week is proving popular with many early birds trying to refer their friends already! Over 1,000 people visited the web page this month and so if that anything to by those nappies are going to quickly!
We are also looking for people to nominate reluctant friends to take part in a Real Nappy challenge. We'll provide the nappies, you provide the friend and the support to turn them into a convert and you both get 10 entries to our Real Nappy Week competition. If you are interested to try Real Nappies but don't know anyone who uses them we can match you up with one of our knoweldgeable and friendly Go Real members.
There is a real buzz this year about Real Nappy Week with loads of people getting involved. We very much hope that you can be part of it!
We will also be sending DVDs and nappy guides for the maternity wards and the midwifery students to ensure that the message really gets out there and we are really hopeful that this will increase awareness of Real Nappies generally and Surrey's trial kit scheme.
The Real Nappy Giveaway planned for Real Nappy Week is proving popular with many early birds trying to refer their friends already! Over 1,000 people visited the web page this month and so if that anything to by those nappies are going to quickly!
We are also looking for people to nominate reluctant friends to take part in a Real Nappy challenge. We'll provide the nappies, you provide the friend and the support to turn them into a convert and you both get 10 entries to our Real Nappy Week competition. If you are interested to try Real Nappies but don't know anyone who uses them we can match you up with one of our knoweldgeable and friendly Go Real members.
There is a real buzz this year about Real Nappy Week with loads of people getting involved. We very much hope that you can be part of it!
Monday, 7 March 2011
Real Nappy Week Fast Approaching!!!
Every year Real Nappy Week doesn't so much creep up on us but rather runs straight at us at full tilt!! 2011 is no exception! But we are happy to say we are ready for it and are ready to start getting parents all over the world Sharing the Secret.
The idea is that you Real Nappy users, happily going about your business with baby snug and comfortable in a Real Nappy, are the very best people to spread the Real Nappy message, so we are asking you for just one week, one day or even one hour to let people know how great Real Nappies are. We have lots of ideas on how you can do that and will support you every step of the way.
One of our exciting Real Nappy Week events is the Great Real Nappy Giveaway which will give Real Nappy users the chance to nominate a friend to receive a sample Real Nappy, a Go Real DVD and lots of information to help them take the Real Nappy plunge. We will have hundreds of nappies to give away from a real mix of brands. Our first company to announce their involvement in the nappy giveaway is Babykind who are giving away 100 nappies from the Wonderoos V2 and Real Easy ranges. We have lots more to confirm so watch this space.
One person who has already been Sharing his Real Nappy secret is Elton John! Before this revelation we sent him a lovely Tiger print nappy so we hope that baby Zachary is seen strutting his stuff in it for Real Nappy Week!
We were also pleased last month to hear that Real Nappies have made it on to the national curriculum in England! We had been getting a suspicious amount of phone calls from teachers looking for information on the subject; so super sleuth Tara Jones got on the trail and discovered that the AQA examining board have included the subject of nappies and the environment as a question on the Child Development GCSE. This is great news and gives us the opportunity to get the message across to a generation of potential parents who will be only too familiar with the disposable way of life.
But it is not just Go Real who have had a busy February, there has been loads of news from our members as well. Here are some of the highlights:
Screaming Green announced they will be launching a scheme for selling second hand Real Nappies, which is fantastic news. We get lots of people ringing Go Real to find out what they can do with their second hand nappies and as we all know, the more the nappies are used the greater the environmental benefit. They also now have a lay away and pay by instalments scheme - more good news!!
Nappy Ever After launched two new Bummis prints
Baba Me launched their new online store selling lots of lovely natural parenting products including the popular Real Nappy ranges: Bum Genius, Flip and Econobum
Nappy Go Lucky celebrated their first birthday
Go Real welcomed new members: Hush-a-bye-Baby, Cheeky Beans, Nappy Bliss and Cambridge City.
For a full round up of all the news visit our news page
The idea is that you Real Nappy users, happily going about your business with baby snug and comfortable in a Real Nappy, are the very best people to spread the Real Nappy message, so we are asking you for just one week, one day or even one hour to let people know how great Real Nappies are. We have lots of ideas on how you can do that and will support you every step of the way.
One of our exciting Real Nappy Week events is the Great Real Nappy Giveaway which will give Real Nappy users the chance to nominate a friend to receive a sample Real Nappy, a Go Real DVD and lots of information to help them take the Real Nappy plunge. We will have hundreds of nappies to give away from a real mix of brands. Our first company to announce their involvement in the nappy giveaway is Babykind who are giving away 100 nappies from the Wonderoos V2 and Real Easy ranges. We have lots more to confirm so watch this space.
One person who has already been Sharing his Real Nappy secret is Elton John! Before this revelation we sent him a lovely Tiger print nappy so we hope that baby Zachary is seen strutting his stuff in it for Real Nappy Week!
We were also pleased last month to hear that Real Nappies have made it on to the national curriculum in England! We had been getting a suspicious amount of phone calls from teachers looking for information on the subject; so super sleuth Tara Jones got on the trail and discovered that the AQA examining board have included the subject of nappies and the environment as a question on the Child Development GCSE. This is great news and gives us the opportunity to get the message across to a generation of potential parents who will be only too familiar with the disposable way of life.
But it is not just Go Real who have had a busy February, there has been loads of news from our members as well. Here are some of the highlights:
Screaming Green announced they will be launching a scheme for selling second hand Real Nappies, which is fantastic news. We get lots of people ringing Go Real to find out what they can do with their second hand nappies and as we all know, the more the nappies are used the greater the environmental benefit. They also now have a lay away and pay by instalments scheme - more good news!!
Nappy Ever After launched two new Bummis prints
Baba Me launched their new online store selling lots of lovely natural parenting products including the popular Real Nappy ranges: Bum Genius, Flip and Econobum
Nappy Go Lucky celebrated their first birthday
Go Real welcomed new members: Hush-a-bye-Baby, Cheeky Beans, Nappy Bliss and Cambridge City.
For a full round up of all the news visit our news page
Friday, 11 February 2011
Mid February Already?!!
Wow, well that's another New Year's resolution: "to blog more often" well and truly broken!! January absolutely flew by and February seems to be quickly following, it will be Real Nappy Week before we know it!
So now it is only my own fault that I have so much to catch you up with, but I will try and stay brief! Once we were back in the office in January, we began work on following up the Early Day Motion on disposable nappy waste, we have a new volunteer who is getting some experience copywriting with us through one of our other projects: ReZolve Skills, so he wrote an email which was sent out to all MPs and also a letter for all of you to send to your local MP, encouraging them to sign the disposable nappy waste EDM. We want as many signatures as posisble, so make sure that you send a letter and get your friends too as well! You find out how to can do this by clicking here!
There seem to have been a real rush of celebrity births and pregnancies announced and it has been all we can do to keep up with getting the nappies out the door, we are also contacting them all about getting involved in Real Nappy Week which is all about Sharing the Secret, we do hope that there is a secret celeb out there who might step forward and admit to a Real Nappy passion! We did have a call from This Morning on behalf of Holly Willoughby who thanked us for her nappy, no prime time spot secured yet however!
Our Facebook and Twitter apps are now hot, hot, hot, with loads of daily activity and we are really pleased to be able to give a wide variety of info and offers that are available out there. In January we hosted our first webinar which went down very well. The next one is on Monday and is all about convincing a reluctant partner so do join us as it could be a fairly amusing one, the Facebook discussion has already been quite lively! We will be joined this month by Matt from Cheeks and Cherries who I believe helped to convince his wife Alix to give them a go!
We have been able to get all the event guides for Real Nappy Week live for members to view and more information for the general public will be up and ready next week - so watch this space! Tara has also been working very hard on a report to let all our members now what we have been up to for the last year and is also streamlining all our admin processes so that we can get even more done!!
Well, I hope that you all have a lovely weekend and that you can all join us on Monday for the Valentine webinar!
So now it is only my own fault that I have so much to catch you up with, but I will try and stay brief! Once we were back in the office in January, we began work on following up the Early Day Motion on disposable nappy waste, we have a new volunteer who is getting some experience copywriting with us through one of our other projects: ReZolve Skills, so he wrote an email which was sent out to all MPs and also a letter for all of you to send to your local MP, encouraging them to sign the disposable nappy waste EDM. We want as many signatures as posisble, so make sure that you send a letter and get your friends too as well! You find out how to can do this by clicking here!
There seem to have been a real rush of celebrity births and pregnancies announced and it has been all we can do to keep up with getting the nappies out the door, we are also contacting them all about getting involved in Real Nappy Week which is all about Sharing the Secret, we do hope that there is a secret celeb out there who might step forward and admit to a Real Nappy passion! We did have a call from This Morning on behalf of Holly Willoughby who thanked us for her nappy, no prime time spot secured yet however!
Our Facebook and Twitter apps are now hot, hot, hot, with loads of daily activity and we are really pleased to be able to give a wide variety of info and offers that are available out there. In January we hosted our first webinar which went down very well. The next one is on Monday and is all about convincing a reluctant partner so do join us as it could be a fairly amusing one, the Facebook discussion has already been quite lively! We will be joined this month by Matt from Cheeks and Cherries who I believe helped to convince his wife Alix to give them a go!
We have been able to get all the event guides for Real Nappy Week live for members to view and more information for the general public will be up and ready next week - so watch this space! Tara has also been working very hard on a report to let all our members now what we have been up to for the last year and is also streamlining all our admin processes so that we can get even more done!!
Well, I hope that you all have a lovely weekend and that you can all join us on Monday for the Valentine webinar!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)