Cloth Nappy Rebates

Queensland

Brisbane City Council - Monthly draw to win back cloth nappy and reusable swim nappy purchases up to $300, and two further prizes of $50.

Livingstone Shire Council - Monthly draw to win $100 for cloth nappy and reusable sanitary product purchases. This includes wet bags, reusable swim nappies, cloth nappy inserts, cloth baby wipes and reusable breast pads.

Victoria

Cardinia Shire Council - Rebates up to 50% on purchases of cloth nappies and reusable sanitary products. This includes reusable breast pads, wetbags, reusable swim nappies, reusable cloth inserts and cloth baby wipes.

City of Casey - Rebates up to 50% on purchases of cloth nappies, reusable swim nappies, reusable cloth inserts, cloth baby wipes, wet bags, reusable breast pads.

Mornington Peninsula Shire - Rebates of 50% (up to a maximum value of $100) on purchases of cloth nappies and 50% (up to a maximum value of $50) on purchases of reusable sanitary products. This includes swim nappies and cloth nappy inserts.

City of Whittlesea - Rebates SOON for cloth nappies and reusable sanitary products. We recommend contacting this council for updates on when these rebates will begin.

Wyndham City Council - Rebates of 50% (up to a maximum value of $100) on purchases of cloth nappies and 50% (up to a maximum value of $50) on purchases of reusable sanitary products.

Western Australia

Town of East Fremantle - Rebates of 50% (up to a maximum value of $100) on purchases or hire of cloth nappies. This includes swim nappies, cloth nappy inserts, boosters and reusable microfleece liners. Attendance at a cloth nappy workshop in this area within six months of application is required to be eligible.

City of Fremantle - Rebates of 50% (up to a maximum value of $150) on purchases or hire of cloth nappies. This includes swim nappies, cloth nappy inserts, boosters and reusable microfleece liners. Attendance at a cloth nappy workshop in this area within six months of application is required to be eligible.

City of Melville - Rebates of 50% (up to a maximum value of $100) on purchases or hire of cloth nappies. This includes swim nappies, cloth nappy inserts, boosters and reusable microfleece liners. Attendance at a cloth nappy workshop in this area within six months of application is required to be eligible.

City of Cockburn - Rebates of $50 on purchases of cloth nappies and 60% subsidy on trying cloth nappies using the Nappy Gurus library service. This rebate and subsidy is only applicable to those that attend a workshop in this area.

Town of Bassendean - Rebates of 50% of the purchase price up to a maximum of $100.00 for Cloth Nappies, and 50% of the purchase price up to a maximum of $50.00 for Cloth Pads. 

South Australia

City of Holdfast Bay - Rebates of 50% (up to a maximum value of $100) on purchases of cloth nappies and reusable sanitary products.

New South Wales

City of Wagga Wagga - Rebates of 50% (up to a maximum value of $100) on purchases of cloth nappies and reusable sanitary products. This includes swim nappies, cloth nappy inserts and reusable microfleece liners. This rebate is on a first-in-first-served basis until available funding is exhausted.

City of Parramatta - Receive up to $150 on purchases of cloth nappies, and up to $100 on purchases of reusable sanitary products. This includes purchases of wet bags, cloth baby wipes, reusable breast pads.

City Of Liverpool - Rebates of 50% of the purchase price (max $150 rebate) for cloth nappies and swim nappies. Rebates of 50% of the purchase price (max $100 rebate) for reusable sanitary products such as cloth pads.

City of Penrith - Rebates of 50% of the purchase price (max $100 rebate) for cloth nappies and swim nappies. Rebates of 50% of the purchase price (max $100 rebate) for reusable sanitary products such as cloth pads.

North Territory

Litchfield Council - Rebates of 50% (up to a maximum value of $100) on purchases of cloth nappies and 50% (up to a maximum value of $50) on purchases of reusable sanitary products. This includes swim nappies and cloth nappy inserts. This rebate is on a first-in-first-served basis until funding is exhausted.

Upcoming Cloth Nappy Rebates

The following areas will be introducing a cloth nappy rebate from 2022 through Halve Waste for purchases made from July 2021. We recommend contacting your local council from the list below for further information or keep an eye out for any updates on this through the Halve Waste website.

Albury City Council, NSW
City of Wodonga, VIC
Federation Council, NSW
Shire of Towong, VIC
Greater Hume Council, NSW
Indigo Shire Council, VIC

Cloth Nappy Workshops

If the link isn't showing any upcoming workshops, please contact the council for information on future workshops.

City of Bunbury, WA
Town of Cambridge, WA
Darlings Downunder, VIC
Nappy Lane, NSW
Nest Nappies, QLD
Baby Shop, NSW
Wollongong City Council, NSW
City of Melville, WA
City of Fremantle, WA
Town of East Fremantle, WA
City of Cockburn, WA
City of Wagga Wagga, NSW
Tiny Footprints, TAS

Is Your Council Missing From the List? - Write a Letter

Writing a letter to your council is a great way of providing education on the benefits of switching to cloth nappies and why introducing incentives such as rebates to the community will help drive positive change in their area.

The first step in assembling your letter is finding out who your local councillor is and address them directly or the environmental representative. You can find these details including the email address/postage address to send your letter to through the website of your local council.

The second step is to introduce yourself and address the reason for your letter. We recommend including an example of a council/s which have implemented active, communal cloth nappy rebate programs.

The third step is to address the importance of this letter and why your issue should be deliberated. This is where you want to include reasoning as to why a rebate should be implemented and what positive change it will bring.

Points we recommended to including in your letter:

• The average baby, from birth to toddler, will require 6,000 nappy changes.
• The average cost in using reusable cloth nappies for one child is between $800-$950. In comparison, disposable nappies for one child equates to $3000-$5000.
• 5.6 million disposable nappies are used every day in Australia.
• 2 billion disposable nappies get tossed into landfill every year which compromises 4% of our landfills.
• Disposable nappies take roughly 500 years to break down.
• 450,000 tonnes of waste is dumped into Australian landfills each year as a result of disposable nappies and disposable sanitary products.
• When decomposing in landfills they produce microplastics and harmful gasses such as methane.
• Disposable nappies contain chemicals that are harmful to babies skin such as plastics, petrolatums, dioxins and many more.
• The average woman spends $19.54 each month on disposable sanitary products, equating to $9379.73 over their reproductive life (12-52 years). By switching to reusables they can save between $100-$200 a year.
• Disposable sanitary products contain chemicals such as BPA and phthalates (and many more), whereas reusable sanitary products such as pads are made plastic-free and don't contain harmful chemicals that can affect women's health.
• There are many health implications when using disposable sanitary products such as Toxic Shock Syndrome, infections and cancer.
• Disposable sanitary products can take between 500-800 years to decompose in landfill (and that's if they’re making it to landfill and not clogging our sewers or going into our waterways).

The fourth step (you’re nearly there!) is to kindly remind them of their duties in looking after their council areas and the communities within, and to reiterate on the importance of introducing an incentive that will encourage parents and women on making the switch from disposables to reusables.

Don't forget to follow up if you haven't received a response after a few weeks.

If you know of other parents that are seeking the same cloth nappy rebate in your area or you are a part of your local council’s Facebook page, why not start a petition! Petitions are great for raising awareness and capturing attention, and you might even be surprised by how many people in your area all want the same change.

Change.org is a great organisation for this that focuses solely on creating petitions and is absolutely free! Marian Wright Edelman once said, “if you don't like the way the world is, you change it one step at a time.”

So pick up your pen and paper (or keyboard) and take that first step in the direction of a more positive environmental future for you and your community.