Ontex and startup Woosh today announced their partnership to enable the recycling of used disposable diapers. These efforts will eventually start in Belgium with plans to expand throughout Europe and possibly globally. The program will begain rolling out in the city of Mechelen, Belgium, in close cooperation with the city council, on April 2.

“It is our mission to enable diaper recycling on a large scale,” says Jeff Stubbe, co- founder of Woosh. “We are launching a delivery and collection service of Ontex’s Little Big Change diapers for nurseries. We are now starting in Mechelen, Bruges, Ghent, then deploying our services to other Belgian cities, notably Brussels in the coming months. By 2024, we aim to reach 1000 nurseries in Belgium alone, and expand our service to other European countries.”

Waste and incineration of diapers can be avoided by recycling used disposable diapers. This requires cooperation between different partners: from suppliers of materials for diapers and to manufacturers like Ontex, to waste collection and to recycling partners using the suitable technology.

“In Belgium today, the separate collection of diaper waste remains limited, which hinders the progress of diaper recycling. Waste companies are not motivated to invest in the recycling because there is not enough separated diaper waste. Due to the lack of recycling facilities, there’s also little incentive to separate diaper waste,” Stubbe continues.

”As a major player in essential personal hygiene, we at Ontex recognize the need to find alternatives to landfill and incineration. We work with recycling companies to make our diapers easier to recycle, in line with our sustainability strategy to move toward a circular economy business model. We support the startup Woosh’s mission to makelarge-scale diaper recycling a reality in Belgium and other countries,” says Annick De Poorter, executive vice president for Innovation, Sustainability and Quality, Ontex.

Positive step to reducing waste
“In a nursery, diaper waste is a daily challenge,” said Fatima Arbaji of Het Zandkasteel nursery in Mechelen. “Approaching diaper waste in an ecological way is certainly not obvious. Waste separation, waste collection, recycling, quality diapers, all through an ecological service, were important elements for us to choose Woosh. We tested the Little Big Change diapers and are happy with the result. It’s a good feeling to help address the environmental challenge related to diaper waste.”

“We are proud to be the first city that accepted Woosh’s collaboration request. “As a city council, we believe in circular economy business models, which recycle and reuse raw materials. This is needed to produce less waste and lower CO2-emissions. The nurseries in the Rivierenland region around Mechelen will also use this diaper distribution and collection service,” said a joint statement from city of Mechelen alderwomen Marina De Bie, Greet Geypen and Gabriella De Francesco, who manage the city’s sustainability, economy and family.