The Council has linked up with the Real Nappy Campaign and is offering families £30 vouchers per child to purchase cloth nappies.

This move will hopefully help motivate parents to consider using cloth nappies and in turn reduce the number of disposable ones buried in landfill sites.

Tony Morris, Recycling Officer at the Council, said: "Currently about eight million disposable nappies are thrown away every day in the UK which equates to nearly three billion every year, whilst real nappies can get used again and again.

"We are striving to reduce the amount of municipal waste and ease the increasing pressure on our landfill sites.

"Waste prevention at source is the most effective way of reducing our rubbish.

"Nappies account to 4% oh household waste in the UK. The main environmental impact identified for disposable ones comes when you throw them away.

"There is no other option for this type of nappy at the moment, although we are looking into the possibility of a separate collection of disposables so they can be recycled.

"Parents can also make huge savings as well as helping the environment.

"The total cost of using real nappies can be half that of using disposables. Further savings can be achieved by using the same real nappies for your second or third child."

The Real Nappy Campaign claims that by the time your baby is potty trained you could use 4,000 to 6,000 disposable nappies.

This will cost a minimum of £488 and maybe as much as £732.

By comparison you only need from 25 to 30 real nappies costing as little as £185 including the washing!

In addition many local authorities offer incentives including cash back.

Tony added: "Time has moved on since the old Terry nappies which were difficult to use and needed to be constantly washed.

"Today real nappies are much easier. There's not a safety pin in sight.

"They come in lots of modern and funky styles that fasten easily with poppers, velcro or little plastic grips so the nappy fits babies snugly.

"A biodegradable liner that keeps your baby dry goes inside the nappy and can easily be flushed away."

For more details on how to claim nappy vouchers please contact the council on 01543 462621.