CAMPAIGNERS are calling for parents to put babies’ ‘poo in the loo’ in the run-up to city-wide fortnightly bin collections.

The Southampton Real Nappy Network is asking parents to avoid using disposable nappies in a bid to reduce waste.

Organiser Sally Spicer, 40, a former councillor who lives in Shirley Warren said contrary to popular belief cloth nappies are easy to use and don’t increase parents’ workload.

She said: “There are loads of different options and lots of information on the internet.

“But we’ve chosen the slogan ‘reduce, reduce, reduce’ instead of the council’s ‘reduce, reuse recycle’.

“We don’t want to come across as patronising and I’m not an eco warrior. We’re just trying to get people to think about it – it’s a bit like breastfeeding and seems to be a bit of a taboo.”

Campaigners and parents say the ‘cloth nappy revolution’ has led to easy to use and easy to wash nappies, which are bottom shaped and use Velcro, poppers or clips instead of pins.

They say parents should put poo into the loo, and that modern washing machines can get stains out of nappies on a 40 degree cycle.

In Southampton, domestic waste taken to Marchwood creates “significant” CO2 emissions associated with incineration and four and a half trees are destroyed to keep one baby in disposable nappies for 30 months.