Tomorrow is the start of Real Nappy Week.

And I'm not blogging this because all I can think of these days is baby (although that's not entirely wrong either). It's more a case of something that you never thought of much coming to visit you in different shapes and forms all over the place. Not the nappies or their contents mind you, rather the idea of real nappies.

Of course there's the personal choice issue which we went through in the past two weeks. Initially, real nappies meant extra work to me and the environmental benefit had a big question mark attached to it, after all, laundring soiled nappies has an environmental effect too. Add to that convenience and I never really gave it a proper thought. Then it all changed. Parentcraft classes, without being pushy at all, suggested immense cost savings of real nappies, and gave figures to the environmental damage: 2.5% of UK household waste are disposable nappies, 90% of which which end up in landfills, taking years to decompose. Still, there's the laundry issue. But with new systems of nappies, laundry can be done at lower temperatures and in effect, they actually just go in with the general extra baby wash. Plus we don't have a drier anyway.

Then, a fellow attender at the parentcraft class claimed that nurseries will not use real nappies for some sort of health and safety reason. And if you have to stop using them at 6 months when maternity leave stops, well, it's hardly worth the expense. But in fact, she was wrong: all the nurseries I spoke to do accept real nappies.

And convenience? Well, first I researched real nappy systems and gave up. It all sounded way too complicated to make sense before baby arrived. Thankfully, help was at hand and I had them shown to me by friends using them: it was actually all very easy and straight forward. I am convinced enough to give it a shot and the trial packs are sitting ready for baby to have fun with.

However, there's the issue of initial cost associated with real nappies, and that's where it goes horribly wrong here in Glasgow. While adjacent councils offer cash incentives which would help families on lower incomes, in the city with the greatest number of low income families, no incentives are offered. According to the Scottish Green Party, who issued a press release on the topic, Glasgow is one of the local authorities who doesn't even take the opportunity to join in or contribute to Real Nappy Week this year.

A shame really, and it makes you wonder. Just today, we received a glossy leaflet, with a letter signed by Glasgow City Council's big man Stephen Purcell, about tackling litter issues in the city. It asks us to use recycling bins, to report fly tipping, to encourage youngsters and those they learn it from to use bins rather than drop their litter. The message comes with a focus on the local community, and nice pictures of our own neighbourhood, trying to bring it home to us.

It's all very nice and commendable, but there is a bigger picture and I wonder whether Glasgow is missing out on something that could make a real difference. Cash incentives are an easy way to encourage people to change their behaviour, and publicity opportunities shouldn't be wasted like this.