Cotton nappies, Disposables and the Environment
What are the cotton nappies like?
How does the laundry service work?
How much does the service cost and where do we deliver?
Meet some of our customers and hear what they have to say...
Nappies available to buy through Dinky Diapers and franchise opportunities available
Introducing the Dinky Diapers Cotton Nappy Laundry Service
"I confess to never having been a 'greeny' type - that is until I fell pregnant with my first child in 1994. When I was about five months pregnant I was walking on the quieter part of Weston-Super-Mare's beach and stumbled across literally dozens of disposable nappies either dumped or washed up on the tide. I felt quite shocked, and the image of those plastic wrapped packages of faeces and urine stayed with me. Within days, I had decided that there was no way I would fall prey to the disposable nappy culture - it seemed such an exercise in waste and pollution.
"Now all this was fine, but domestication - well it's never really been my strong point, and washing nappies, simple though it may promise to be, left me cold. In a flash of inspiration I remembered an advert about a nappy laundry service, Dinky Diapers. I had actually been curious earlier on in my pregnancy but had concluded, without further enquiries, that for a personalised service like this it would be far too expensive, especially as I was giving up a full-time job and would be carefully watching finances. By chance, the Dinky Diapers owner had actually dropped information at my local clinic and I was able to discreetly ask the health visitor important questions like "how much?". I was amazed to realise it was a similar price to the top brand disposables, so I rang immediately and arranged for a demonstration. My baby was eventually born and within a few days I had my first week's supply of soft cotton nappies delivered to my door.
"When I was 8½ months pregnant with daughter number two, I rang Dinky Diapers to arrange delivery of the nappies only to find the business was due to close. My reaction? To buy 20 nappies to wash myself? Well I did actually buy about that many to start myself off, but in the words of a renowned electric razor manufacturer "I was so impressed - I bought the company!". When my second child was less than a week old I arranged to buy the business and resumed deliveries a month later. That was in November 1996. In 2001 we opened our own laundry based in Keynsham so we could offer an even better service to our customer. Having taken two children through cotton nappies I feel extremely competent in offering advice on reusables, especially as my last baby was very wet and had sensitive skin - all issues that concern potential users.
"I scarcely could have imagined a few years ago the direction my life would take, from nervous first time parent with only a background in finance since leaving school to being crazy enough to wash thousands of nappies each month for similar minded families. So as for reusable cotton nappies - with the numerous pinless, easy to use modern designs now available, they offer a brilliant environmental alternative and when used through a laundry service, require minimal fuss and work, for a competitive price.
"Go on - go against the flow!"
Claire Collins
Dinky Diapers
Contact us
Phone on: 0117 9866167
or email Dinky Diapers - jude.green@btopenworld.com
