A CAMPAIGN has been launched aimed at stopping disposable nappies from contaminating recycling as a survey reveals more than one million UK nappy users are putting them in their recycling bins.

Dorset Council has joined forces with environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy to launch the campaign which comes after a survey, conducted by YouGov, revealed that seven per cent of nappy users wrongly put their disposable nappies in with their recycling, which equates to more than one million people.

A council spokesman said: "Each year there are around 3,300 births recorded in Dorset and, at an estimated 2,200 nappies per baby per year, this means there are about seven million used disposable nappies entering the Dorset household waste stream every year."

Recycling bins containing materials which cannot be recycled at the kerbside cannot be collected for fear of contaminating the whole lorry load. Instead they are collected as rubbish and sent for treatment, at a greater expense to the council and the taxpayer.

Dorset Council hopes that not only will the campaign raise awareness of the problem of putting nappies in recycling bins, it will encourage people to choose to start using reusable nappies which are better for the environment and save money for both parents and the council.

The campaign will be appearing on billboards around the country. In Dorset, the campaign will mainly be supported by social media posts and advertising.

Councillor Jill Haynes, Dorset Council's portfolio holder for customer and community services, said: "We are very pleased to have the opportunity to work in partnership with Keep Britain Tidy and eight other councils to raise awareness of the problem of nappy contamination in the recycling system.

"We aim to educate nappy users that disposable nappies should never be put in the recycling bin and encourage them to change their behaviour."

Chief executive of Keep Britain Tidy Allison Ogden-Newton OBE said: "We are delighted to be partnering with Dorset Council to tackle this issue. Recycling contamination, including disposable nappies, costs local authorities hundreds of thousands of pounds a year and stops many tonnes of waste from being recycled.

"The message to everyone who uses disposable nappies is clear – nappies never go in your recycling."