Municipality Projects

Do you want to encourage the use of reusable diapers in your municipality to reduce the amount of (residual) waste? We are happy to think with you about how to best approach this, with lasting results.

Nappy's.nl is the largest provider of reusable diapers for babies, children and adults in the Benelux. With more than 30 brands and a team with years of experience in using reusable cloth diapers, we know what we sell and which diaper is the right diaper in which situation.

We are a member of WasbareluierWereld,, the only independent platform to promote the use of reusable diapers. Wasbareluierwereld is supported by various sellers of reusable diapers, but is independently managed. It is possible to do a project directly with us, or with the intervention of WasbareluierWereld.

Project Municipality Rotterdam

In collaboration with WasbareluierWereld and Meinen Stomerij en Wasserij, we helped the municipality of Rotterdam with a project to encourage the use of reusable cloth diapers. We delivered 50 diaper packages and 10 demo packages to the municipality, which made them available to participating maternity aid organizations. The demo packages have been used to train maternity caregivers so that they have the knowledge to assist young families in the first week after the birth of their child in the use of reusable diapers.

The design of the project in Rotterdam is innovative. By guiding families during the maternity week, they quickly come into contact with reusable diapers. The sooner you start using reusable diapers, the higher the chance that the use will be continued. In the first weeks after birth, parents often have the most time with their child and this is the perfect time to start using reusable diapers. The sooner you start, the easier it is, the more waste is saved and the greater the financial savings for the parents. Maternity aid organizations are therefore the perfect partner for a municipality to encourage the use of reusable diapers. In Rotterdam the packages have been offered to parents to continue with them. As a result, the packages quickly went out of circulation. The impact of the project can be increased by keeping the diaper packages with the maternity care organizations and always taking them to new families. In this way, with a limited investment, a large number of parents can be reached who are open to the use of reusable diapers.

Project Municipality Lansingerland

For the municipality of Lansingerland, Nappy's.nl has supplied 30 complete packages of reusable cloth diapers and accessories to families from the municipality with a child up to 1.5 years old. With this mixed package of day and night diapers and an extensive complement of accessories such as baby wipes, liners, diaper bucket, mesh bags and diaper bags, families have a complete package of reusable diapers at home that can be used till toilet training. The diapers are adjustable in size and therefore grow with your child from birth to toilet training. In addition to supplying the articles, Nappy's.nl also took over the entire management of the project. The parents were informed about the package at a kick-off meeting and then there was 6 months of digital guidance and, where desired, personal guidance.

The design of the project in Lansingerland was comparable to other pilots in Breda, Haarlemmermeer and Heerenveen, among others, where packages are provided to families who meet the criteria of living in the municipality and having a child. What was innovative was that parents in Lansingerland made an investment of €200 to participate in the project. In return, they received a package worth approximately €800 and guidance. The parents had the option to return the package within the project period, after which they would receive an additional €100 in return for the package, making the risk for parents a maximum of €100. One family took advantage of this opportunity. That package went to another family on the reserve list for €100. The remaining 29 families (and the backup family) continued to use the cloth diaper package. By asking for a contribution from parents, there is a lot more involvement and motivation among parents in the project and the municipality's costs for this project were limited. The results of this design were positive. A subsidy scheme will start in 2024 for residents of the municipality of Lasingerland to reach even more residents. Information about this scheme can be found on the website of the municipality of Lansingerland. Nappy's.nl has also taken care of the administration for the payments of parents' own contribution, so that the municipality did not have to organize this itself.

Co-operation Municipality Meppel

We are in regular contact with our own municipality of Meppel about encouraging reusable cloth diapers. In the new Nieuwveense Landen district in Meppel, the municipality has distributed letters to advise residents about diaper use. Like neighboring municipalities, the municipality will collect disposable diapers separately in the hope of creating a waste stream that will one day lead to an investment by a commercial party in recycling capacity. The municipality of Meppel has informed residents about this method and made it clear to parents that no recycling is currently taking place. They have highlighted the benefits of cloth diapers and the huge waste and cost savings that parents can achieve by using cloth diapers. We really appreciate that they also mentioned that Nappy's.nl is located in Meppel and that there is therefore a local company where they can go for questions and purchases.

Through this transparent method of communication, the municipality of Meppel has told parents the honest story about the recycling of disposable diapers in the Netherlands. More than 90% of all disposable diapers are incinerated because there is no recycling capacity. In our view, the chance that this will come about without a substantial contribution from a government is also nil given the complexity of a product to be recycled that consists of SAP granules, pulp, glue, plastic, urine and feces, while the potential yield of the recycled product is low. But if subsidies are available, recycling is of course an option to limit waste. The municipality of Meppel has ensured that it provides its residents with transparent information about the current situation regarding the impact of disposable diapers and reusable diapers in a very cost-efficient manner. Partly due to the information from the municipality, the use of reusable diapers in Nieuwveense Landen is at least twice as high as the average in the Netherlands (based on what we already achieve in sales). This result was achieved without subsidies and without discounts. This shows that getting to know and informing about reusable diapers is the most important step to stimulate the use of reusable cloth diapers.

We are happy to contribute ideas to the design of a project

Our experience is that the best results can be achieved with a smartly thought-out project with lasting impact. The project in Rotterdam focuses on guidance through maternity care. These are the people who provide intensive guidance to parents shortly after birth and are also perfectly able to help parents with the use of reusable diapers. By rotating diaper packages at maternity care organizations, the parents of almost all newborn children can be reached as early as possible, maximizing the impact on waste savings, while limiting the investment. If a project with complete packages is preferred, asking for a financial contribution from parents is a smart way to stimulate parental commitment to improve the results. Moreover, this also limits the costs for a municipality. The municipality of Meppel shows that even without a budget for a project, a positive impact can be made in encouraging the use of washable diapers. Properly informing parents and pointing out a sustainable alternative is therefore a very efficient and cost-effective way to promote the use of reusable diapers.

We are happy to help encourage the use of reusable cloth diapers and reusable incontinence materials. We have experience with a design such as the above-mentioned projects, but other ways to encourage reuse are also conceivable. We can be reached on working days from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM via [email protected] or 0522-475883.