Alliance Councillor Sian Mulholland has called for increased investment in the cloth nappy scheme delivered by Belfast City Council.

Currently, families living across Belfast can access a short term loan scheme of cloth nappies, either for the first six weeks of a child’s life with a newborn kit or from eight weeks on with a ‘Birth to Potty’ kit.

Once a trial has completed, families are then eligible to receive a voucher to purchase their own set of nappies.

Sian said: “As it stands, long waiting times can see families having to wait for up to 10 weeks to access the kits. With this in part due to an increased interest in the scheme, that’s why I’ve asked the Council to assess the feasibility of providing more kits to alleviate the waiting lists and to allow more families to try out an initiative that can save them money whilst also being more mindful of the environment.

“Only a number of years ago cloth nappies were deemed to be old fashioned, or too alternative, but more and more people are becoming more switched on about the environment meaning initiatives like our Cloth Nappy scheme are becoming more mainstream every year.

“We should be doing everything we can to take the burden off landfill, with an estimated 5,000 nappies going to landfill per child, and we should be encouraging people to make small changes that can collectively have a huge impact on our world.

“I hope that when the report comes back next month, we can take tangible steps to encourage more people to give cloth nappies a go.”