Reusable Nappy Campaign

The Tops Project

How did the project start?

In April 2019, GECCO collaborated with Tops Day Nurseries to promote reusable nappies to its colleagues and parents.

GECCO raised some funds through a Charity whisky.auction to put together 10 hampers of reusable nappies and accessories; these were issued, free of charge, to Tops Day Nursery staff with young babies. The staff that received the hampers were committed to feeding back to GECCO with their thoughts and experiences and, if they got on with the reusable nappies, to becoming Tops reusable nappy ‘experts’ for Tops parents to go to for advice when considering or making the change to reusable nappies for their children.

Tops Day Nurseries then chose to include a reusable nappy within their ‘Congratulations’ gift package to every staff member with a newborn baby, and created a stock of reusable nappy hampers, supplied by GECCO, with different nappy sizes available, for colleagues to borrow until their child was potty trained.

GECCO then purchased enough contents to make up 30 hampers – one for each of the nurseries in the Tops Day Nurseries family, stocked with approximately £100-worth of new and second-hand reusable nappies, branded wet bag (for transporting wet/soiled nappies), nappy liners and boosters. Each nursery can lend the hamper, for a 2-week free trial period, to any parents with children who attend their setting.

Reusable Nappy Training

On 14th May 2019, a training day was held for all Tops Day Nurseries nursery managers at the Support Hub in Southbourne, to ensure that they were fully informed on the use and care of reusable nappies. Two local mums from the Wimborne War on Waste group – who run their own Reusable Nappy Campaign – attended to talk through the hampers and to answer any questions.

GECCO have also designed a Reusable Nappy training workshop, which will be delivered to both staff and parents at Tops Day Nurseries to support the changes that need to be made in the nurseries and at home.

Following the training Tops Babbacombe in Torquay reported:

“Katie changed her first reusable nappy on Thursday and has mastered the technique, no leaks and the nappy fitted the baby perfectly, parents were over the moon.”

Next steps – Tops parents try reusable nappies

If parents enjoy the reusable nappy 2-week trial, they can then go on to buy their own nappy supplies, and for Tops Day Nurseries parents we have agreed a discount code with several companies supplying reusable nappies. Alternatively, of course, a wide range of real nappies are available from any of the growing number of online and retail distributors and community Nappy Libraries