Earlier this year, concerned about my growing family’s impact on the environment, I was engrossed in the nappy debate; disposables or reusables? (see blog) Finally, with a little help from my GreenParent.com friends, I opted for second hand reusable nappies, washing at 40 degC and line drying. Unfortunately, my experiment did not last very long as the hassle of handling and washing proved too much for us. Yes I feel bad, but one has to be real and recognise one’s practical limits – Reusable nappies are not for us – sorry!
But all is not lost and there is hope on the horizon offered in the form of Knowaste.
Knowaste is a Canadian company which potentially provides an alternative and acceptable solution. The company is providing the UK’s first absorbent hygiene product recycling facility which will not only recycle an estimated 750,000 tonnes of nappy waste produced every year in the UK, but also provide a treatment system for the large quantities of feminine hygiene products (a market in the UK worth £298m a year) and the ever growing adult incontinence pad market.
The first Knowaste plant will open in West Bromwich in mid 2010 for collections from the Birmingham area with four other plants are planned by 2014 for Manchester, Liverpool and London.
The Birmingham plant alone will prevent 36,000t of nappy waste, feminine hygiene products and adult incontinence pads from going to landfill each year with the ‘waste’ being reused to produce resalable, clean and hygienic sterile plastics and an energy source capable of fuelling the plant, with excess energy sold to the national grid.
Not wanting to take their word for it, dcarbon8 are currently carrying out a full LCA according to ISO 14044 and working to measure the environmental impacts of the treatment of the waste, in comparison to other forms of waste disposal for UK operations.
But I understand for the dc8 team that Knowaste is not stopping there as they have recently launched a new company called SmallPlant Building Products which plans to use the plastic recovered from the recycling plant to manufacture roofing tiles and systems. Who would have thought that nappies would end up on your roof!!
Is it an good solution, is it ‘acceptable’. Well we will find out and I will publish the data whatever the answer but on the face of it, they could provide an option to the increasing number of parents, like me, who really do care about how nappies are disposed of BUT cannot or are unable to cope with the real practicalities of dealing with the reusable nappy.
GuyB
12.11.09
Updated information from dcarbon8 about Ziga’s nappies for those of you who want to follow
Summary of Study by dcarbon8
To ensure that informed decisions are made right from the start, Planet Positive/Dcarbon8 is determining which is the most carbon efficient nappy for Ziga.
The information that has been used is taken from two studies by the Environment Agency in 2003 and 2008, and calculations made by the Women’s Action Network for reusable and disposable nappies.
Initial studies by the EA showed little difference between the disposable and reusable nappies. However, this was questioned and shown to be unrepresentative by WEN, as the majority of carbon emissions from reusable nappies were a resultant of the laundering energy. Less efficient machines, and increases in tumble drying would create greater emissions.
The EA released an updated study in 2008 which focuses largely on different washing/drying options. This showed that by using the most effective methods of laundering, CO2e emissions can be reduced by 40%. In addition steps by disposable nappy manufacturers had been taken to reduce the overall material usage and emissions.
Below is a summarised table of the options:
|
Nappy Type |
CO2e per nappy |
Number of nappies for 2.5 years |
CO2e over 2.5years |
|
Disposable |
0.154 |
3744 |
576 |
|
Reusable with average laundering |
18.96 |
30 |
569 |
|
Reusable with high efficient combination |
11.41 |
30 |
342 |
Someone from GreenParenting has agreed to send me some used nappies which I hope to get this week, so I will let you know how it all goes.
Guy B
22.02.09
