Nappy disposal

[ryanna]

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone knew whether there is any environmental legislation regarding the disposal of large volumes of nappies from domestic properties?

I work with a full time assistant minding 6 under 3's and between them they can produce between 12 and 20 nappies a day.

These currently go in my regular outside bin, but apart from the fact that they leave no room for my household rubbish, it's not hygienic when it's only collected fortnightly.

So I made an enquiry with PHS about them providing me with a weekly nappy collection service, which they can do for £650 per year (approx £10-£11 a week). Not really an expense I can afford but they did say that what I was currently doing was illegal. I can't find anything relevant to home-based childcare services, only nurseries, so do we come under the same regulations?

Any ideas/advice appreciated.

[RainbowMum]

I think that price is very reasonable! I have 3 under 2 every day and prob around 8-10 nappies - I struggle some weeks with bin space but with regards to hygeine I have a bin cleaning company power was the bin once a month - it costs £3.50 each time! I think it varies in area what the council say about childminders waste - they may let you have as larger bin but also may charge you for it. I dont think we come under the same rules as nursery for wate disposal but not 100% sure.

[Daftbat]

I have never heard of this being illegal. I would suggest you just contact your local council and see what they say.

[Goatgirl]

Hi :),
I don't think its illegal. That would be silly... but if it is a problem, maybe hygienically bag them and give back to the parents for their own bins? That's what we were advised to do on our ICP course, as the tutor said the council can charge and treat the nappies as a separate type of waste from your normal household waste...

Bit of a grey area and down to individual local authorities I think...
Hope you sort it out :)

bws,
Wendy

[ladybug]

I have awful neighbours who complained about the amount of rubbish we put out, so I now have to pay for a Business waste bin! (which is a wheely bin) I pay about £4 a week for this to be collected.

[ryanna]

Thanks everyone, I called my local council who said that they could supply me with a trade bin which they would empty either weekly or fortnightly for £7.45 + VAT per collection (Think I can live with that). Asked her if it was ok to use for sanitary waste like nappies and she said yes, it's nothing that wouldn't normally be put in a domestic bin, it's just the volume thats the issue so that's fine. No mention of anything being illegal and nothing about the 'special yellow disposal bags' that I was told nappies need to go in. Salesmen ay?!? Lesson learned!

[Pipsqueak]

Glad you go it sorted.

illegal my bottom....... what about parents of several under 3's or multiples all of whom may be in nappies......:rolleyes: some people really do talk complete excrement.:rolleyes: and the mood I am in i would phone him back and tell him that.

[Noomie]

I personally use cloth for that very reason. I don't want to put so many nappies out to waste. I don't have any in nappies at the moment but my own however would love it if parents used cloth too.

Must find out what my council would say although our wheelie bin is only ever a quarter full with all the peelings going to compost and the recycling bin. We also have weekly pick ups so I guess that helps too.

[onceinabluemoon]

I personally use cloth for that very reason. I don't want to put so many nappies out to waste. I don't have any in nappies at the moment but my own however would love it if parents used cloth too.

Must find out what my council would say although our wheelie bin is only ever a quarter full with all the peelings going to compost and the recycling bin. We also have weekly pick ups so I guess that helps too.

I supply nappies for my full timers and use cloth nappies for the baby and have potty trained the 2.5 year old and have her in pants. Only have 2 nappies a day in the bin now.

[Noomie]

Btw... I didn't want to sound on my soap box about using cloth! :blush: Sorry if it came across that way! Just love cloth I guess. Also if parents of babies I care for want disposies then I'd go with that.

[grindal]

I dont think they meant it was illegal to put nappies in a domestic bin - but the fact you (as most of us do) are using domestic bins for commercial waste. We are running businesses from our home so should actually be paying for business waste collection. It was my Environmental Health Inspector who explained this to me - then said it would be a bit silly for a childminder with one mindee to pay for this.

I sometimes take a bag of nappies on my school runs and pop them in a public bin - as I do with any fish remains or meat waste to stop foxes ripping open our bin bags!

[JCrakers]

I rang my council for a slightly bigger bin and was told I can only have a business one as I make money and would have to pay....(families with 3 children get a bigger one automatically...I only have 2 of my own)
I argued that the waste I put in my bin means less in the parents bins.TRUE

I dont have a lot of nappies at the moment but im not paying for my bin to be collected when I already pay a huge council tax bill...grr..(Rant over...lol)

[mabel]

where do you get all your rubbish from mind full time, have 3 children of my own and still manage with a small bin........................

[ryanna]

where do you get all your rubbish from mind full time, have 3 children of my own and still manage with a small bin........................

I'm not sure what you mean? I could manage with the bin I've got if we didn't look after 6 nappy wearing children every day. If we change each one 3 times a day, in the two weeks between bin collections I've got 180 nappies in there as well as my own household waste! I don't think I produce any more rubbish than anyone else, and given that including my own two, I have 12 children here some days I actually think we're pretty good!

[nicoleon]

I supply nappies for my full timers and use cloth nappies for the baby and have potty trained the 2.5 year old and have her in pants. Only have 2 nappies a day in the bin now.


Wow! My DD is in cloth and I would love to put mindee in cloth but hadn't hought of it. Do you have separate nappies for them? With infections like thrush that don't easily wash out I guess you would have to?! I like the idea though... I hate that parents don't even use eco nappies, they shouldn't even make them anymore if they can make degradable ones!

[Penny1959]

Wow! My DD is in cloth and I would love to put mindee in cloth but hadn't hought of it. Do you have separate nappies for them? With infections like thrush that don't easily wash out I guess you would have to?! I like the idea though... I hate that parents don't even use eco nappies, they shouldn't even make them anymore if they can make degradable ones!

I supply cloth nappies for my mindees (including the washing) -2 parents use service and 1 prefers to use disposables.

I do keep the nappies seperate for each child (have marked the nappies with a small coloured 'stiched' cross ) so actually have 3 'sets'. However once child is potty trained the nappies would go through a hot wash and then be allocated to the next child. (use tea Tree oil in everywash)

I brought all my cloth nappies second hand which saved a lot of money.

This saves a lot of room in my bin and reduces the smell especially in the summer.

Penny :)

[juelmer]

My lo is in cloth nappies too and I hadn't thought of supplying them for mindee's. Do you charge extra for this service as you'll be saving the parents a lot of money? and you'll have the expense of washing them too. I wash mine at 60 degrees, is this not enough to get rid of thrush etc?

[Wendybird]

How lovely to see other cloth users here! :clapping: I offer a cloth nappy service too - and charge £1.50 / day for nappies, wipes and washing. That is roughly what disposables cost from my guestimate, plus saves parents the hassle of remembering and hauling nappies to mine. I like the idea of sending the dirty nappies home with parents, but suspect that woudn't be very popular.

[rickysmiths]

There was some talk in our area of having to have yellow bins for cms for nappies and we would have to pay extra for the service. I told my parents that if this was introduced I would be bagging up nappies and giving them to take home and put in their own bins.

It makes me laugh because when my two were in nappies I would have been putting more nappies in the bin as a mum with kids 24/7 than I ever put in the bin as a cm. The council were not planning on making every parent with a yellow bin so why cms?? Kind of doulble money making standards if you ask me!!!

[juelmer]

I just found the following link regarding disposable napies versus cloth nappies and other useful information. My main concern would be the hygiene side of it but I'm presuming at 60 degrees it is hygienically cleaned and I put on a 60 degree wash either every day or every other day so they won't be sitting around for long.

http://www.wrap.org.uk/downloads/D10698_Nursery_Guide_Web_1.0c63a8b8.3471.pdf

With regards to payment do you just put it on the invoice as an extra or do you specify what the extra is i.e cloth nappies, wipes and washing? I think I remember from my course that we shouldn't supply the wipes in case they have a reaction to the ones we use.
Do we need to do anything extra regarding tax? I suppose it will just come under income and we don't need to clarify anywhere.
I love the idea and it will reduce our waste and smell :clapping:

[Ripeberry]

I give the nappies back to the parents after being 'scraped'. But then most of my mindees are not in nappies and the one that is uses 'all in one' cloth nappies with liners.

[Mamma4Ya]

Glad you go it sorted.

illegal my bottom....... what about parents of several under 3's or multiples all of whom may be in nappies......:rolleyes: some people really do talk complete excrement.:rolleyes: and the mood I am in i would phone him back and tell him that.

Rules are different for business waste.

[onceinabluemoon]

I dont charge for using cloth nappies. I use them because I want to - I don't want a bin full of stinky nappies... I also market myself as an eco-friendly childminder so it would be a bit 'off' if I charged parents to do the job (IMHO)

I buy and use several different brands and each different child has a different brand to themselves so no crossover by accident. Nappies are sterilised by soaking in germicide (such as napisan or bamboo mio) and then very hot washed. I have never had a problem with any of the children having thrush or nappy rash whilst using 'real' nappies.

[Mamma4Ya]

There was some talk in our area of having to have yellow bins for cms for nappies and we would have to pay extra for the service. I told my parents that if this was introduced I would be bagging up nappies and giving them to take home and put in their own bins.

It makes me laugh because when my two were in nappies I would have been putting more nappies in the bin as a mum with kids 24/7 than I ever put in the bin as a cm. The council were not planning on making every parent with a yellow bin so why cms?? Kind of doulble money making standards if you ask me!!!

I imagine this is becasue it is considered business waste not domestic, and yellow bags or bins indicate (as it was when I worked in a salon) body fluids. I too would give them back to parents if this was implemented. :thumbsup: