November 13, 2009

Guy Battle’s Blog

http://www.planet-positive.org/blog 

Earlier this year, concerned about my growing family’s impact onthe environment, I was engrossed in teh nappy debate; disposables or reusables? (see blog) Finally, with a little help from my GreenParent.com friends, I opted for second hand reusble nappies, washing at 40 degrees C 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 int eh 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 gygiene product recycling facility which will not only recylce an estimated 750,000 tonnes of nappy waste produced every year int eh UK, but also provide a treatment system for the large quantities of feminine hygiene products (a market int eh 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 20104 for Manchester, Liverpool and London. 

The Birmingham plant alone will prevent 36,000 tonnes 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 fueling 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 SmallPlanet 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 a 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. 

For more information please contact Kathryn Williams on 01179 073 400 or email: Kathryn.Williams@jbp.co.uk.