Details of the first nappy recycling service in England have been unveiled by Cheshire West and Chester council, following the schemes official launch last week.
More than 1,300 households in the former Vale Royal area have signed up to the weekly Nappy-cycle service. Families have been given collection sacks and an outdoor storage container that will be emptied each week.
A spokeswoman for the council told letsrecycle.com that sacks are the standard yellow and black tiger stripe as recommended for collecting non infectious hygiene waste, which has a higher thickness than the standard refuse sack to reduce the chance of splitting when collecting and bulking them.
The 50 litre capacity containers meanwhile have been sourced from Mattiussi and have locking sealed lids to reduce odours.
Residents have been asked to use nappy sacks or plastic carrier bags towrap the nappies before placing them in the yellow sack inside the container. Only tied yellow sacks will be collected. Residents are advised to keep the containers out of direct sunlight.
Collection
The nappies are collected by vans with sealed storage containers to reduce odour and are bulked up and taken to a transfer station, where the yellow sacks are loaded directly into a sealed storage container. They are then sent to the UKs first nappy recycling facility, owned by Knowaste in West Bromwich, which opened in September 2011 (see letsrecycle.com story).
Plastic and fibre recovered from the recycling process is used for making products including, in the case of plastics, roof tiles, recycling bins and steel or wood substitute, and in the case of the fibres, cardboard and industrial tubing.
“We will be closely monitoring this pilot and would very much like to hear what people think of it”
Councillor Lynda Jones
Delivered by the councils waste and recycling partner May Gurney, the six-month pilot scheme is expected to recycle 25 tonnes of nappies every week.
‘Delighted’
Local councillor, Lynda Jones, said: We are delighted that so many families have chosen to take advantage of our pioneering Nappy-cycle pilot.
For the first time, it offers parents and carers an environmentally-friendly disposal option that is also convenient and hygienic.
We are very proud that Cheshire West and Chester council is leading the way in tackling the enormous pressure the nappy mountain puts on our landfill capacity. We will be closely monitoring this pilot and would very much like to hear what people think of it.
The Nappy-cycle service is also available to residents who need to dispose of adult incontinence products.
Knowaste
Roy Brown, chief executive – of Knowaste, said: We are delighted to support the trial collection services in Cheshire.
Our West Bromwich plant is a specialist nappy and incontinence products recycling facility and is the first of its kind in the UK. Knowaste uses state-of-the-art technology to allow us to turn all absorbent hygiene product into valuable plastics and fibres, which can then be used to make new products.
An application has been submitted to the Governments 250 million Weekly Collection Support Fund to expand the scheme across West Cheshire.
Every year in West Cheshire 5,000 tonnes of nappies are sent to landfill, where they take up to 500 years to decompose.
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