Less than 0.1% of UK nappies recycled

But, he said this represents just 0.06% of the total nappy waste stream in the UK highlighting the extent to which nappies are still sent to landfill.

Mr Benyon revealed the figures in response to a question asked in parliament by John Glen, Conservative MP for Salisbury and South Wiltshire. Mr Glen asked the secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs what estimate he has made of the number of nappies recycled by the Knowaste facility in West Bromwich to date, how many will be recycled in the next two years and what proportion of nappies this accounted for.

In response, Mr Benyon said nearly 6,000 tonnes of nappies had been recycled by Knowaste since it opened the UKs only absorbent hygiene product (AHP) recycling facility in West Bromwich in September 2011 (see letsrecycle.com story).

He said: Figures provided by Knowaste indicate that since the Knowaste plant opened in September 2011 it has treated 5,920 tonnes of nappies (approximately 2 million nappies).

The projected throughput for 2013 and 2014 is 13,000 tonnes (approximately 4.4 million) and 26,000 tonnes (approximately 8.8 million) respectively.

Mr Benyon added: The Nappy Alliance estimated in 2008 that around 3 billion nappies were thrown away in the UK each year. Based on that figure this means that approximately 0.06% of nappies thrown away in the UK have been processed at the Knowaste plant since September 2011.

If the target figures are met for the future, this percentage will rise to 0.15% in 2013 and 0.3% in 2014.

The Nappy Alliance represents companies which manufacture, distribute or sell reusable nappies.

Trials

Knowastes West Bromwich facility has the capacity to handle up to 36,000 tonnes per year of AHPs including nappies, feminine hygiene and incontinence products. Knowaste uses an autoclave process to treat the material. 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.

The majority of waste comes from commercial contracts with firms such as services companies PHS, OCS and Initial. However, a number of trials are underway throughout the UK to trial nappy collections.

One such trial was announced by Cheshire West and Chester council in March 2012 (see letsrecycle.com story). The six month trial saw 56,000 households invited to subscribe to the weekly kerbside collection service.