3 billion used nappies and 11 billion wet wipes are sent to landfill every year in the UK, that is 8 million nappies and 30 million wet wipes every single day. Since nappies were invented that's over 150 BILLION which are still sitting in a landfill today dying a slow death and leaching chemicals into the ground and releasing micro plastics.

Some responsible producers have developed plant based products which do not contain single use plastics, but due to the current lack of controls or investments in industrial compost facilities, these too will likely be sent to landfill. 

Both plastic and natural fibre nappies currently make up approximately 10% of black bin waste destined for landfill. But none of them need to go to landfill at all. 

The plastic versions could be sent to recycling centres, whilst the compostable versions should be sent to industrial compost facilities. The technology exists but councils are reluctant to invest. 

Many councils point to their long running Real Nappy schemes as their answer to nappy waste. However the penetration of cloth nappies remains fairly static at c7% and even the most dedicated cloth user will often use a combination of cloth and disposable. Alongside the legislation to label these disposables correctly, we need to push councils to invest in the technology to manage their end-of-life processes. 

Banning sending this waste to landfill and imposing penalties will push this investment forward and help us to achieve WRAP's 70% bioplastic composting target by 2025. 

Sign this petition to add a ban on sending any nappy or wipe waste to landfill to the Environment Bill. 

Please act before the world becomes one big dirty nappy bin. 

Sources: DEFRA, WrapUK,  BBC