England’s largest nappy recycling trial launches in Bristol

Babies in Bristol are helping launch the largest nappy recycling trial of its kind in England.

Starting in July 2024, we are proud to be supporting the year-long Pura NappiCycle trial. All brands of nappies can be recycled, and participation is completely free for parents!

Our mission: to save precious resources from 1 million nappies from going to waste.

As well as nappies, the trial will recycle other absorbent hygiene products like period care.

What will happen to the recycled nappies?

Firstly, innovative nappy delivery and collection company Green Bottoms will pick up the used products and take them to one of Bristol Waste Company’s depots. From there they will be transported to NappiCycle where they will be recycled.

The dirty nappies are then cleaned, processed, and the plastics and cellulose fibres are extracted. These fibres are then repurposed as all sorts of useful items ranging from notice boards to material for paving more durable roads and cycle paths!

What difference will this make?

Currently parents and carers in the UK throw away an estimated 3 billion disposable nappies every year. Once in landfill, they last for up to half a millennium. To put this in context, Henry VIII was King of England 500 years ago.

The findings of this trial will inform conversations with Defra and local authorities about the feasibility and benefits of nappy recycling. Costs and carbon impact will be among the outcomes monitored.

It follows the success of Pura NappiCycle’s first, smaller nappy recycling trial in Bristol back in June 2022. It saved 6.3 tonnes of waste during a six-month period – equivalent to 31,500 used nappies!

We have seen from our analysis of average household bins in Bristol that nappies and other absorbent hygiene waste make up over 8% of general waste bins in the city. By getting these items out of the black wheelie bins and into recycling bags, people are not only saving these precious resources from going to waste, they are also:

• saving room in their bins
• reducing smells building up between general waste collections
• saving the city money on high disposal costs for general waste!

Parents looking to register their interest to be part of the nappy recycling trial can follow the link below!