Milton Keynes residents warned over 'unpleasant' contamination of recycling with dirty nappies

Milton Keynes Council endorses a new campaign designed at stopping dirty nappies that contaminate the city's recycling.
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The latest figures from National Survey suggest that more than one million UK nappy users are putting them in their recycling bin.

Alongside the environmental charity, Keep Britain Tidy, Milton Keynes Council is launching a new campaign aimed at stopping the millions of disposable nappies that are contaminating recycling.

Councillor Emily Darlington said in a statement on the Council's website: “We know that more and more people in Milton Keynes are committed to recycling and are trying to get it right, but every week we see a lot of things in the clear recycling sacks that shouldn’t be there, like dirty nappies.

MK Council back campaign tackling disgusting, wrongly disposed of nappies that contaminate the city's recyclingMK Council back campaign tackling disgusting, wrongly disposed of nappies that contaminate the city's recycling
MK Council back campaign tackling disgusting, wrongly disposed of nappies that contaminate the city's recycling

“Dealing with things that cannot be recycled costs Milton Keynes Council hundreds of thousands pounds per year. That’s money that could be better spent to help local people. We are very pleased to be working with Keep Britain Tidy to help residents recycle correctly.”

Data gathered by YouGov shows 7% of all nappies are wrongly dumped in recycling bins. Leading to millions of nappies smearing otherwise recyclable waste.

Further information in the YouGov poll showed that younger people, aged 18-24 were more likely to put them in their recycling bin (15%) and more than one in ten Londoners who used disposable nappies (11%) tried to recycle them.

Keep Britain Tidy’s Chief Executive Allison Ogden-Newton OBE said: Recycling contamination, including disposable nappies, costs local authorities hundreds of thousands of pounds a year and stops many tonnes of waste from being recycled.

“The message to everyone who uses disposable nappies is clear – nappies never go in your recycling. We know from our research that there is confusion among the public about recycling – our survey has found that a third of nappy users admit to being confused - so we call on all manufacturers of disposable nappies to use eye-catching labelling that clearly communicates their product cannot be recycled.

“Our campaign features a new symbol that we would like to see carried on every pack of nappies so that there is clear and consistent advice to the public, many of whom are trying to do the right thing with what they perceive, incorrectly and tragically, is a recyclable product.”