Recycling Nappies into Roads!

Being a new parent, I have had to get my hands dirty (quite literally!) with changing nappies over the past couple of years. I was therefore interested to read about Pura NappiCycle and their efforts to recycle disposable nappies in the UK. 

Pura NappiCycle estimate that 3 billion disposable nappies are used each year in the UK. These nappies are then sent to landfill, where it is thought that they will remain for over 500 years. Clearly, something needs to be done about this ever-increasing problem.

Pura NappiCycle is a collaboration set up in 2020 between NappiCycle, a company that has been recycling nappies in Wales for more than 10 years using a process that allows them to recover the valuable materials, and Pura, an eco-friendly provider of baby care products. Their aim is to try to expand the initiative currently in place in Wales to the rest of the UK, with Pura investing heavily in further research and development at NappiCycle.     

A 12-month trial is beginning this month in Bristol, and parents there are being ask to sign up to the initiative. Used nappies will be collected for free from the homes of participants, before being transported to the NappiCycle recycling facility. There they will be shredded, washed and treated, and once excess water has been removed, the raw materials will be separated and dried ready for use in the manufacture of new products. For example, the recovered cellulose fibres can be used to make fibre boards and acoustic panelling, and the recovered plastics can be sent to secondary re-processors for recycling. In fact, following a smaller trial in 2022, recovered fibres were even used to resurface a section of road in Wales! 

Pura NappiCycle estimate that their efforts keep 40 million nappies and other absorbent hygiene products out of landfill annually. Here’s hoping that this important innovation can be rolled out across the UK in the not-too-distant future.