Crackdown on throw-away nappies could be next in war on plastic, Michael Gove hints

MICHAEL GOVE suffered a furious backlash from Mums yesterday after hinting the Government could ban disposable nappies in his war on plastic.

The Environment Secretary even appeared to hint the Chancellor could be considering a tax in the upcoming Budget to encourage sustainable alternatives.

Speaking at a fringe meeting, he also suggested Brits will one day have to wean themselves off hard to recycle biros, disposable razors and plastic ballon sticks.

The comments drew a furious reaction from parenting website Netmums which branded it “borderline offensive”.

And within minutes a spokesman insisted there were no plans for a ban. Mr Gove's aide said: “We are looking at what we can do to encourage more sustainable alternatives but there won’t be a ban.”

Mr Gove has won plaudits from environmentalists for taking action to ban straws and stirrers in the wake of David Attenborough’s Blue Planet TV series. Speaking yesterday he said these were “downpayments” for more action in the future.

Challenged if it was time to “get rid” of the non biodegradable nappies – he said: “I mustn’t make too much news or commit to too much in advance of anything the Chancellor might say.

“But yes the direction of travel I think is that we are going to have to identify not quite item by item, but sector by sector, those areas where we do need to take a different approach.”

He added the nation had to “try to reduce as much as possible the amount of waste” that goes into landfill or is burnt to generate electricity.

Mr Gove insisted the public backed his previous bans despite opposition from Tory backbenchers.

And he likened opposition to that which may have taken place when similar “progressive” legislation was passed decades ago – such as stopping children from working as chimney sweeps.

Annie O'Leary, editor in chief of the parenting website Netmums, said any nappy ban a "retrograde step" and said it would leave women arm deep in washing dirty nappies.

She added female voters will not take kindly to a male politician threatening them with the move.

She said: ";We know that mums talk about it a lot in the forum and I think that mums would generally say why would it have to be a ban?

"It seems like a bit of a retrograde step, particularly in terms of women's lib and freedom for women from domestic drudgery, to ban them altogether.

"I think educating the public on why they shouldn't be something everyone uses all day every day, of course is fine. Most children use 4,000 nappies in a lifecycle.

"But I think banning them altogether is just ridiculous. I think it is borderline offensive."

A baby will use around 5,000 nappies over the first few years of its life - and they can take up to 500 years to totally decompose.

And nearly eight million are thrown away every day in the UK - which is around three billion a year.

Reuseable nappies do have some plastic in them, but are designed so mums can throw them in the wash and use them again.

Over time parents can save money with them, but they're much pricer to cough up for at first.

Yesterday one of Mr Gove's environment ministers sparked uproar by set her sights on banning McDonald's happy meals toys too - because they are also made of plastic.

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