Nappy Collective needs the support of ECEC to gather 350,000 nappies for Mother’s Day

Australia’s only not-for-profit solely focused on collecting and redistributing nappies to families in crisis, The Nappy Collective, is seeking the support of the Australian early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector as it seeks to collect 350,000 nappies as part of its Mother’s Day Collection Drive. 

From 8-21 May, over 500 collection points around Australia, including early childhood education and care (ECEC) services, will open to accept donations of new or leftover disposable nappies. Other collection locations include maternal health centres, major retailers and small businesses.

The following donations are accepted:

• Newly purchased disposable nappies
• Leftover, opened packets of disposable nappies that are no longer needed — such as when a child outgrows their nappy size
• Nappy pants.

For Mikaela Johnson, Centre Director at Jenny’s Early Learning Centre in Maiden Gully Victoria, contributing to the Nappy Collective cause is one of the many ways the service creates strong relationships with the local community, and provides support to those in need. 

“We believe it is our role as educators to promote the importance of this to the children and their families, and we love to see children proud and excited to make donations to our nappy collection box,” she explained.

This year celebrating its 10-year anniversary, the Nappy Collective aims to support the one in ten Australian families who struggle with affording the nappies their babies and toddlers need. Without access to nappies, little ones may be left in their nappies for too long, causing distress, discomfort and infections. 

‘Nappy stress’ also takes a toll on the parents who often find they can’t send their children to ECEC when they’ve run out of nappies and therefore lose employment opportunities, further impacting their finances and having negative mental health implications. 

The cost of living crisis has worsened nappy affordability for many families, with demand for the Nappy Collective’s support essentially doubling over the past 12 months. 

“There’s a multitude of reasons why a family might face nappy stress, from homelessness to natural disasters or fleeing domestic violence,” explained Nappy Collective CEO Sarah Witty.

“The cost of living crisis has also meant more and more people are struggling to afford the nappies they need for their children. On our 10-year anniversary, our mission at the Nappy Collective remains the same — that every child in Australia deserves a clean, healthy and happy start to life.” 

The Nappy Collective has set an ambitious goal of providing 1.5 million nappies to children and families in need in 2023, with demand reaching 350,000 for the Mother’s Day Collection Drive. Even so, the need for nappy donations is so high, that the 1.5 million target will only deliver five per cent of what’s required. 

“Unfortunately, there are too many mums across Australia who can only hope to be able to provide for their child’s basic needs this Mother’s Day. So as we approach May 14, we’re urging everybody to think about how they can support local mothers, families and children and give the gift of nappies to those in need,” Ms Witty said.

Those who don’t have nappies on hand but who still wish to support can donate funds to assist The Nappy Collective via the donation page.  

For the full list of collection points, please see here.