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Refuse Collection

I sense a press release coming. My hon. Friend paints quite a disgusting word picture of piles of disposable nappies. We did not go into this issue in great detail, but disposable nappies are one of the smellier waste items. In a moment, I shall discuss AWC—alternate weekly collection—or fortnightly collections, as they are popularly known in the press. Obviously, a major issue in that regard is smell. Disposable nappies are a particularly smelly form of waste that causes particular problems, and several local authorities have introduced schemes to support and encourage parents to use traditional rather than disposable nappies. We had a little discussion about this before the debate, and it is a difficult area of personal behaviour to influence, because people have strong views on it. I am of an age that I used reusable nappies on my children and viewed disposables as an unhappy modern invention with unfortunate environmental consequences. However, both my daughters are wedded entirely to using disposable nappies for their children, and they cannot imagine how I managed with having to wash the reusable ones. There are some good initiatives, but there has also been debate, which we reproduced in the report, as to whether the environmental damage is all on one side. If one reuses nappies, one has to wash them, which uses enormous quantities of water. I applaud councils that have addressed this delicate matter, as parents need to be aware of the possible environmental problems with disposable nappies. Incontinence pads, which nobody talks about, are even worse in one sense, as they are usually rather larger. I shall speak in a little while about the different collection methods chosen by different councils, and about the perception of health risks that may be associated with some choices that have been made.