A Japanese company has revealed the world’s first horizontally recycled diapers — diapers made from other diapers. This marks a meaningful advancement in sustainable childcare items and promises to significantly lessen landfill waste, cleaning up some of the unpleasant environmental impact of nappies. Diapers are harmful to the environment
Disposable diapers, or nappies as they are commonly known, have become an essential part of modern parenting. However, their environmental impact is substantial. Every year, millions of tons of disposable diapers end up in landfills around the world. In the United States alone, an estimated 20 billion disposable diapers are thrown away annually, creating over 3.5 million tons of waste.
The pollution resulting from disposable nappies is particularly severe due to their durability. Most are primarily made from plastics and super-absorbent polymers, materials intended to last. As a result, a single disposable diaper can take up to 500 years to decompose. During this time, the chemicals and plastics persist in the environment, posing potential risks to soil and water quality. Moreover, there’s the matter of feces. Each diaper contains human feces. When discarded in a landfill, this mixture can contribute to the spread of pathogens and contaminants in the environment. Furthermore, the presence of fecal matter complicates the potential for recycling these materials, leaving few options beyond the landfill, where they persist and pollute for hundreds of years. Unicharm, the Japanese company, said it has found a way to recycle nappies. Can you recycle nappies?
The complex process involves sterilizing, bleaching, and deodorizing the used nappies. The cost for the recycled diapers is slightly higher, but competitive in the Japanese market. A pack of 42 diapers costs 1,078 yen ($7). Tsutomu Kido, a senior executive officer at Unicharm, says they tested the products previously and have recently received all the necessary approvals to go on the market..
The advantage of horizontal recycling is that it allows the same resources to be used repeatedly, the company points out. Disposable diapers are mainly made from wood pulp along with polymers made from petroleum resources and plastic. “If these materials can be used repeatedly, then we can reduce the amount of wood and oil resources used,” the company states.
The disposable diaper market is valued at over $70 billion a year, and diapers are one of the main contributors to public waste. Every minute, more than 300,000 disposable diapers are burned, sent to landfills, or improperly disposed of.
To reduce the environmental impact of disposable diapers, both policy intervention and consumer action are required. For instance, subsidies for cloth diapers or the provision of communal laundering services can help lower the barrier to choosing these more eco-friendly options. However, realistically speaking, these products are simply not as convenient as disposable ones.
Unicharm's new horizontally recycled diapers could signal a significant change in the way sustainable diapers and household products are approached. It is crucial for other companies to pay attention and for consumers to endorse and advocate for these innovations.
Nappies have been a big environmental problem for a long time. But there might be a superior alternative.
“First, used dirty disposable diapers are dewatered, crushed into small pieces, washed, and separated by material,” a press release mentioned. “There is still some dirt and some odors at this stage, but the pulp extracted from disposable diapers is subjected to ozone treatment (sterilization, bleaching, and deodorization). The material is returned to a safe and clean condition and then used again to make new disposable diapers.”
The price for the recycled diapers is slightly higher, but competitive on the Japanese market. A packet of 42 diapers costs 1,078 yen ($7). Tsutomu Kido, a senior executive officer at Unicharm, says they trialed the products before and have recently received all the necessary approvals to go on the market.
“We have received approval from experts concerning hygiene,” according to The Mainichi newspaper. “Customers who have used these products said they were comfortable and felt no different from regular [diapers].”
Horizontal recycling has the advantage of allowing the same resources to be used repeatedly, the company mentions. Disposable diapers are mainly made from wood pulp, along with polymers made from petroleum resources, and plastic. “If these materials can be used repeatedly, then we can reduce the amount of wood and oil resources used,” the company says.
The disposable diaper market is worth over $70 billion a year, and diapers are one of the biggest contributors to public waste. Every minute, more than 300,000 disposable nappies are incinerated, sent to landfills, or improperly discarded.
To mitigate the environmental impact of disposable diapers, both policy intervention and consumer action are necessary. For instance, subsidies for cloth diapers or the provision of communal laundering services can help reduce the barrier to choosing these greener options. Realistically speaking, however, these products are just not as good as disposable ones.
The introduction of horizontally recycled diapers by Unicharm could mark a pivotal shift in the approach to sustainable diapers, and sustainable household products in general. As we move forward, it is imperative for other companies to take note and for consumers to support these innovations — and for us consumers to push towards them.
