An innovative technology which recycles used diapers into absorbent and flushable cat litter has won the RISE Innovation Award.
- By diverting used diapers from households and institutions, and separating the plastic and fiber, Australian startup DiaperRecycle strives to decrease the climate-changing emissions of diapers from landfills.
The Award: The annual award recognizes innovation in areas within and on the periphery of the nonwovens industry that use advanced science and engineering principles to develop unique or intricate solutions to problems and advance nonwovens usage.
- Other award finalists included Binder BioHook® by Gottlieb Binder GmbH & Co. KG and Sero hemp fibres from Bast Fibre Technologies, Inc. (BFT).
- Product development and innovators in nonwovens and engineered materials gained valuable expert insights on material science innovation and sustainability at the 12th edition of RISE — Research, Innovation & Science for Engineered Fabrics conference.
- INDA, the Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry, and The Nonwovens Institute, North Carolina State University co-organised the event, 27-28 September at the North Carolina State University premises in Raleigh, North Carolina.
The Winner: DiaperRecycle is a startup disposable nappy recycling business in Melbourne, Australia.
- The company diverts waste disposable nappies from landfills, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions while joining the circular economy and recycling a waste consumer product into other products.
- The plastic goes to plastic recyclers and the company uses the fibre.
- The first product to be marketed is cat litter.
- The fibre is also compostable, using industrial composters.
- Disposable nappies are a waste problem that stay in landfill for hundreds of years.
The problem:
- In the first two years of life, a child uses around 4,000 nappies.
- Any disposable diaper will take 100-500 years to break down.
- Around 2 billion nappies go to landfill each year in Australia alone.
