[...] buried in each used nappy [diaper -Ed.] are hidden treasures, according to Marcello Somma, who is head of research and development at Fater, an Italian joint venture between Procter & Gamble and Angelini Group.
Fater has developed what it claims is the first industrial-scale process that can extract these valuable materials, and it is already up and running in Treviso, Italy. Now, as part of a project called EMBRACED, it is building a biorefinery next door to make best use of these recycled substances.
Technical minds have been trying to recycle nappies since 1992, says Somma, but it has proved to be a ball of trouble.
"When you change a nappy you wrap it onto itself and so basically you have a kind of bomb of four waste types intimately linked with each other," says Somma. "There is plastic waste – polyethylene and polypropylene, paper waste – because there is cellulose, a super-absorbent polymer and the organic fraction – the human contribution."
Fater, which has been trying to recycle disposable nappies for a decade, has found the trickiest stage is at the start: opening it.
Hmm, the baby's first diapers must be especially valuable, containing the black tar they do.
(Score: 1) by Goghit on Tuesday October 09 2018, @04:48AM
Same thing for my two children, except we used vinegar and water in the diaper pail.
A couple of years ago when my daughter was getting ready for her first she was fussing about opinions on the internet that vingar would rot the diapers out prematurely. I pointed to our stack of wiping rags that includes diapers used by both her and her brother.