An innovative new lease and laundry service for environmentally conscious parents of children in nappies is serving the Illawarra between Jervis Bay and Bulli.
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Co founder Stacey Ring said the new business offers an environmentally friendly solution for parents who want to significantly reduce their families' contribution to landfill, reduce the negative environmental impacts involved in the production of disposable nappies and choose a healthier option for their babies.
Mrs Ring and her husband Ben have built a solar powered commercial laundry at home for cleaning modern cloth nappies. The new reusable nappies are seen a sustainable and chemical free alternative to disposables.
Little Eco Baby Nappy Service was born after the birth of Mr and Mrs Ring's two children. Eden, now 5, was born prematurely and the couple struggled with the daily cycle. They used disposable nappies for two years. Mrs Ring said while they thought of themselves as being environmentally conscious they never thought to try the modern cloth nappies.
But three years later when she was pregnant with their son Henry, now 2, the couple were gifted a full set of modern cloth nappies from a friend. They were initially concerned about the extra time it would take to clean the nappies with their already busy lives but decided to give them a try.
When they found they didn't leak or cause nappy rash they realised using the modern reusable nappies was helping make a positive contribution to the world. That was when the couple decided a sustainable, no fuss affordable lease and laundry service could make a huge difference to other time poor parents.
Mr Ring said advances in the material used in the modern reusable nappies were beginning to make them popular. "They are not the old terry towelling cloth nappy squares we used to use when we were young. They are more streamlined and more absorbent".
Mr Ring said the growing popularity of Little Eco Baby Nappy Service has come from word-of-mouth. "With our service every customer gets their own set of nappies. We pick up the dirty ones, hygienically launder them and drop them back to the parents twice a week".
Mr Ring said a couple of businesses in Sydney provided a similar service but he wasn't aware of any in the Illawarra. "We are trying to take all the hassle out of it for busy parents. We have taken the initial cost of buying the nappies and hard work out of it for parents. They just put them on their babies like a disposable, give them a rinse out when they take them off and then we just come pick them up and drop off a fresh set of nappies".
Mr Ring said their commercial laundry runs off full solar power to make the process even more environmentally friendly.
He said he now realises how much more he can do for the environment which has changed a number of his family's habits practices.
The couple hopes what they do helps other families realise what they can do.
"We value sustainability and non toxic choices for families and hope to make a quantitative contribution to our area by making reusable nappies accessible to time poor parents," Mrs Ring said.
As for the future Mr and Mrs Ring are keeping the idea of starting a franchise in mind but may need to look at employing staff locally in the short term.
"At the moment we are looking at building our brand in the local area and once we are established and we no it is a winner we will start to expand I imagine," Mr Ring said.
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