Real Nappy Week to share a secret

by Silvia Musso

In the first nine months of pregnancy before the happy event, future mothers imagine how their baby and what bright future awaits for them.

They probably do not pose the problem of the impact that their baby will have on the environment. A creature so small could ever produce much waste? Here's the answer: the disposable diapers can be up to 10% of municipal solid waste and their impact on the environment is high because they are not recyclable waste and take 500 years to break down completely, while the cloth diapers are reusable multiple times and for more than one child!

To avoid that every new birth brings with it a terrible ecological footprint Nonsolociripà was created. It is a group of parents from all over Italy who uses cloth diapers for their children and aims to spread, without any profit – they do not advertise any brand - the culture of reusable diapers both through direct contact and arranging meetings on the territory to share experiences and information, and through their website.

In the wake of events with similar names such as the European Week for Waste Reduction, and Italian Week of Reusable Bag, the group NonSoloCiripà will promote also in Italy the International Week of Cloth Diapers, Italian edition of Real Nappy Week, that will be held from 16 to May 22, 2011 all over the world.

To celebrate this campaign (the sixth international edition and the second Italian one) NonSoloCiripà is organizing several initiatives throughout Italy, through the network of so-called "voluntary ciripine” (from ciripà an ancient Italian word for the cloth diaper).

The theme of the 2011 edition is: SHARE THE SECRET! The existence of cloth diapers as an alternative to disposable it is almost unknown to many parents, or there are still a lot of cultural resistance (inherited from older generations) and many sanitation concerns over its use.

The Week promote this: to allow parents to discover the hidden virtues and the best tricks for using cloth diapers. The spread of this alternative to disposable diapers, it is advantageous from many points of view.

It is environmentally sustainable because less waste will end to landfills; it is economically sustainable both for families, as cloth diapers cost from 150 to 800 € from birth to potty, compared to € 1000 -3000 for disposable diapers, and for the public authorities who need to dispose a lower amount of municipal waste; it is sustainable under the medical and health aspect because the child's skin is in direct contact with breathable fabrics and absorbent, unlike disposable diapers containing various substances and synthetic chemicals (such as sodium polyacrilate discussed, pollutant TBT).

These and many other information that are against stupid stereotypes will be provided to interested citizens during the many events planned throughout the week and downloadable from the site. www.nonsolociripa.it.

Among the activities we remind the competition "Share the secret!" to which you can participate by expressing through art, photography, drawing, words, etc., the discovery and the meeting with the cloth diapers.

You can participate to the competition in two different ways: by publishing your works on the Association Facebook page or by e-mail by sending them at info@nonsolociripa.

The most voted work on Facebook page will to win a sticker for the car that makes everyone know that "there is a ciripino (baby wearing a cloth diaper) on board". The Jury Prize will instead be a wetbag.