Dutch Childcare Group to Transition to Woosh Diapers

Samenwerkende Kinderopvang, a Netherlands-based childcare organization with more than 230 daycare centers—and the consumer of  3.5 million diapers annually—is switching to the diaper service provided by the Belgian brand Woosh. With Woosh, the maker and processer or recyclable diapers, the childcare organization aims to to substantially reduce diaper waste and further boost the circular economy. The partnership was announced today at the KindVak trade fair in Den Bosch. 

Every year, one billion diapers end up in the trash in the Netherlands, and the government aims to have at least a quarter of this diaper waste recycled by 2032. However, the Netherlands currently lacks sufficient capacity to recycle all this waste. 

“By using recyclable diapers, we are shrinking the mountain of waste and reducing CO2 emissions. Our scale allows us to make a truly substantial impact, which aligns perfectly with our sustainability strategy—one that prioritizes quality and comfort for the children alongside ease of use for our staff,” says Corona Sanders-Koek, managing director of Samenwerkende Kinderopvang. 

Woosh will collect used diapers from the childcare facilities and process them at its own recycling facility in Bruges, Belgium where plastic materials are turned into new raw materials for products such as packaging and organic components are used to generate energy.

The Woosh diaper was developed based on the ‘designed-for-recycling’ principle, involving product design and material choices that facilitate the recycling of used diapers. Collection and processing are also managed entirely in-house. This makes Woosh one of the few brands worldwide to control the entire process itself. “For us, this partnership proves that a large organization can take responsibility for a product long after it has been used. To us, a used diaper isn’t waste; it’s a raw material,” says Jeff Stubbe, CEO of Woosh.

Samenwerkende Kinderopvang expects to complete the transition to Woosh diapers by May 2027.

“We hope to set an example for other childcare organizations in the Netherlands and make diaper recycling the new norm. Only through a collective effort can we work towards a world without diaper waste,” says Sanders-Koek. With its recycling facility in Belgium, the diaper service has sufficient capacity to process all diapers from both its Belgian and Dutch locations. Given the strong interest from the Netherlands, Woosh is preparing to build a Dutch facility by the end of 2027.