New recycling plant to open in Birmingham

01 May 2008
 
A new facility, designed to recycle 30,000t of disposable nappies annually, will open in Birmingham later this year.

Knowaste, the company behind the plans, already has nappy-recycling plants in Canada and the Netherlands, and will open the new plant in Tyseley. It has contracted Alpha Waste to collect 30,000t of the waste each year for 10 years from hospitals, nurseries and nursing homes.

Every year, the UK disposes of around 750,000t of soiled nappies, and most of them end up in landfill. ‘Our recycling process will enable local authorities to meet their landfill diversion targets and avoid landfill taxes,’ said Knowaste president and chief executive, Roy Brown.

The Knowaste process involves mechanical separation of the wastes to yield plastic, wood pulp and super-absorbent gel polymers for recycling. The materials are washed to deactivate the polymers, and the plastic separated for processing into pellets for recyclers. The remaining material is screened and fibre and polymers collected to make compost, or to generate energy.

The company is planning further UK plants to increase throughput to 100,000t annually. ‘Local authorities will be able to avoid any penalties arising from not meeting landfill targets,’ added Brown. ‘When all our plants are fully up and running, 13% of all the UK’s nappy waste will be diverted away from landfill and recycled.’

The Real Nappy Campaign, meanwhile, promotes the reuse of terry nappies, but Knowaste claims that the energy used to wash nappies highlights the need for recycling.

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