A new project from nappy manufacturer Kimberly-Clark, the CSIRO and South Australian Government has used anaerobic digestion to turn organic materials from Huggies nappies into nutrient-rich compost while capturing bioenergy.
The Nappy Loop team hope to save some of the 1.5 billion nappies that end up in landfills in Australia every year. Their project has been active since July and has already collected and recycled nearly two tonnes of nappies from local childcare centres.
“Families and day care centres across the country rely on the convenience and performance of disposable nappies and while we work to innovate and create more sustainable products, recycling is one solution for disposable nappy waste,” said Belinda Driscoll, Kimberly-Clark ANZ Managing Director.
A similar programme in Toronto, Canada, has been running for years, while in Wales, NappiCycle used recycled nappy material to resurface sections of highway.
Kimberly-Clark hopes to upscale the project in the near future.
