PARENTS are to be told the benefits of their babies wearing cloth nappies in a bid to cut down on the number of disposable nappies that are sent to landfill sites.

The newly set up Wiltshire Real Nappy Network will be offering vouchers to parents towards the cost of buying cloth nappies.

Jacky Thomas, the network co-ordinator who is based in Devizes, used cloth nappies on her four children.

She said there was a huge gap in people's understanding of how best to use cloth nappies.

She said: "Cloth nappies are still unfamiliar to the majority of young parents and therefore the education process needs to be stepped up.

"People still equate real nappies with the old fashioned systems of 25 years ago of having to boil them but nowadays with modern, efficient washing machines the process is much more cleaner and far simpler than ever before and the nappies can be reused and used by successive children."

Mrs Thomas said in Wiltshire 25 million disposable nappies are dumped into landfill sites each year where they take hundreds of years to break down while all the time releasing methane, one of the most powerful global warming gases.

Mrs Thomas is tasked with increasing the use of cloth nappies by 600 children in the next 12 months. She estimates that this number would reduce the amount of disposable nappies going to landfill by over one million.

In Britain around 15 per cent of children use cloth nappies. Mrs Thomas thinks the main reason for the low number is lack of knowledge.

She said: "They are a well kept secret. Most parents have no idea what they are like and you cannot buy them easily. Specialist nursery shops tend to sell them as well as larger supermarkets.

"Cloth nappies have changed considerably from what people used years ago. They come in different styles and sizes and no pins are required." Mrs Thomas has 5,000 leaflets explaining cloth nappies and the voucher scheme and will be sending them to midwives, hospitals and clinics.

The voucher scheme, which is funded by Wiltshire County Council, covers all children between 0-24 months who live in the county and parents will be able to claim a £15 refund against their purchase of real nappies.

She is also working with credit unions in Wiltshire to pass on details of the voucher scheme to their customers.

Mrs Thomas said parents using cloth nappies would save between £300 and £500 compared with disposable nappies for the child's first two and a half years.

One mum who uses cloth nappies is Hannah Shepherd, 26, of Calne. Her son, Hadley, is four months old.

She said: "I decided before I had Hadley that I would use cloth nappies for environmental and financial reasons. I don't like the idea of the amount of disposable nappies that are going into landfill sites and my mum used cloth nappies on us and said they were fine.

"I find the nappies easy to wash, I put them in with my normal laundry and I line dry them. I hope to have more children and I intend to pass the nappies down for them to use."

n The Wiltshire Real Nappy Network is organised by Wiltshire Wildlife Trust and backed by the county council and WRAP, the Waste and Resources Action Programme, which receives Government funding. For more details about the voucher scheme or more information about cloth nappies call Mrs Thomas on (01380) 725670 extension 236.