'My career as a nappy-changer is about to re-start': Duchess of York reveals new project

Days after touring Perth and Sydney, the Duchess of York has announced her latest mission and it has a very special connection to her role as a grandmother.

Sarah Ferguson has thrown her support behind eco-friendly nappies to help reduce the impact of plastic waste on the environment.

The duchess says she's doing it now just as "my career as a nappy-changer about to re-start".

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Known around the world as 'Fergie', the 65-year-old will soon become a grandmother for the fifth time.

Princess Beatrice is expecting her second child with with husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi from March next year.

The baby will be a sibling for Sienna, three, and will be born 11th in line to the British throne

The duchess has four other grandchildren: Christopher – known as Wolfie – Mozzi's eight-year-old son from his previous relationship, while Princess Eugenie and husband Jack Brooksbank have two sons, August, three, and Ernest, one.

"Having been no stranger to nappy time over the years, I began to wonder: what are these nappies made of and where are they going?" the duchess said on Instagram.

"Researching it, I was stunned: they are full of plastic waste, and according to the UN, are now one of the largest contributors to the plastic waste crisis globally.

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"So when my grandchildren arrived, I tried to find plastic-free nappies that were 100% compostable but it just wasn't possible."

The duchess has now teamed up with the The Greater Good "to move the world away from nappies filled with plastic".

The initiative was launched in Samoa, where the duchess travelled to over the weekend after leaving Sydney on Friday.

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In Samoa, and other South Pacific countries including Vanuatu and Tuvalu, disposable nappies account for nearly 30 per cent of household waste.

The Greater Good campaign's solution is high-quality nappies that are composted in the community to create safe, nutrient-rich soil in six to eight weeks.

For every 100 babies, 700 kilograms of plastic waste is eliminated each week.

"When my first grandchild was born, I rolled up my sleeves as though a 30-year hiatus had never happened," the duchess wrote in a piece for the Daily Mail.

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Sarah Ferguson's life in pictures

She says she was introduced to the cause through her daughter Princess Eugenie, who has long supported efforts to clean up the world's oceans.

The duchess says that when her children were born she had tried to find plastic-free nappies that were 100 per cent compostable, leaving no waste and no pollution, "but it just wasn't possible".