Ontex made headlines last month with the roll out of two separate programs to address diaper waste. The Belgium hygiene manufacturer has partnered with two different waste companies to introduce pilot programs that will separately focus on the recycling and/or composting of diapers. The recycling effort, in partnership with a waste company called Woosh, will initially roll out in Belgium targeting nurseries and daycare centers, while a composting program, with circular economy company Les Alchemistes, aims to create a viable composting scheme for Ontex’s Little Big Change diapers.

According to Annick De Poorter, Ontex’s vice president of sustainability, there is no one size fits all approach to dealing with diapers after they have been used but both of these options can be preferable to landfilling or incinerating this waste stream. Which method works, however will depend on several factors like government regulations, population growth, economics and more.

One thing is for certain, however, global awareness of plastic pollution and its impact on our ecosystem has had a major impact on consumer psyches and this has influenced major changes in corporate policies. Businesses are getting growing pressure to reduce plastic waste and some countries are even banning plastic waste. Exposing the impact of plastic pollution has created an urgency to reduce and recycle more plastic materials.

Ontex is not alone in its effort to address diaper waste—Procter & Gamble has launched pilot recycling programs and Dyper continues to expand its composting program—but it is interesting that this company has introduced two side-by-side efforts so close together.
The global nonwovens industry is poised for rapid expansion over the next few years as more consumers in developing countries like India and China and in parts of Africa reach the income thresholds to afford disposable goods. Many of these countries already have trash problems making programs that compost or recycle materials mandatory for market success.

Already, Procter & Gamble has indicated that India will likely be one of the next countries where it establishes a diaper recycling program, and Unicharm plans to extend programs now underway in Japan into other parts of Asia during the next decade.

Clearly, Ontex’s recent announcements demonstrate that there are viable partnerships to be made to address diaper waste. The recycling of hard-to-recycle materials like diapers, PPE or other plastic-based materials could be a key to figuring out how to minimize environmental footprints of both large corporations and consumers.

Karen McIntyre
Editor
[email protected]