Lite Green by Sebrina Smith
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Just like in the 5th grade, my vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds. "Nappies," I am told, are what Brits call disposable diapers. Cute. And apparently, nappies are now being recycled into other useful products like roofing tiles thanks to a company called Knowwaste.
Knowwaste is one of the world's leading developers of recycling technology for personal hygiene products like diapers. They have recently opened a recycling plant in Great Britain, which will be capable of recycling 30,000 tons of diapers each year. The company has already recycled about 200,000 tons of diapers in pilot programs in Canada and Holland over the past 8 years.
The use of disposable diapers has increased over the last 3 decades, primarily because of convenience. And according to the Knowwaste website, it takes 4.5 trees to produce enough nappies for just one baby.
The modern disposable diaper is made up of three components: mixed plastic, wood pulp and super absorbent gel polymers. All these individual components can be recycled and reused. The UK nappies are bagged and collected curbside just like other types of recycling. Since it is estimated that disposable diapers can take up to 500 years to completely decompose in a landfill, hurrying the process along seems like a no-brainer.
Diaper recycling has never really caught on here in the colonies. One program, begun in Santa Clarita, CA in 2002 may be discontinued. While about 43 tons of diapers were collected during the program's trial phase and supporting city ordinances were passed to require diaper recycling, only about 10% usable recyclable material was returned.
The City has cited cost as the reason for discontinuing the program. But if people won't recycle diapers––even if they might be fined for not doing so–– I think it probably has more to do with the yuck factor.
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