Diaper Recycling—Is Cost King?

Procter & Gamble has worked with a joint venture partner in Italy to collect and recycle diapers; Kimberly-Clark conducted a trial in Australia; Ontex continues its partnership with Woosh to create a diaper that is more likely to be recycled; Unicharm has created a diaper recycling process that can repurpose pulp for household items like toilet paper and new diapers.

That’s just the multinational companies. There are several smaller, eco-conscious diaper brands like Dyper and Pura that were created with the sole aim of offering the marketplace a product with a reduced environmental impact—that are focusing on recycling and other ways to lessen the burden on municipal waste facilities.

So why are we not seeing diaper collection bins on every corner? Probably a lot of reasons but the paramount one is cost.

Last year, a few years after announcing its diaper recycling efforts, Procter & Gamble announced that it felt it had reached the limits of the technology when it came finding new uses for recycled AHP waste because finding the right application for recycled diaper materials has continued to pose challenges.

Diaper collection is costly and so is recycling them. For this operation to work, the company collecting and recycling the diapers—which so far seems to be the chore of the diaper manufacturer—needs to be able to recoup their investment further down the supply chain, which has been a real challenge.

However, many companies remain bullish about the recyclability of diapers. Recent successes include the use of the plastic in composite materials replacing concrete and steel. Cellulose fibers can be used for the production of pet litter, pet care absorbent products, concrete and tarmac additives, brick manufacture, paper and cardboard, insulation materials and agricultural nutrients. And some companies are even using repurposed pulp in absorbent products and toilet paper.

Just this week, Pura, a U.K.-based diaper brand triumphantly announced it has already recycled 200,000 diapers at a partner facility in Bristol, U.K., and, in Belgium, Woosh has launched a “give-back” diaper, which it will deliver and then pick up (to recycle).

Certainly, the quantity of hygiene items going into landfills will continue to motivate other companies to seek solutions. As one recycling expert put it, diapers are an area that could really make a difference in waste reduction—if a viable and economically feasible solution can be found. Surely, many are looking.