Kimberly-Clark, the maker of Huggies nappies, announced a new nappy recycling trial that could be Australia’s answer to the 1.5 billion disposable nappies that end up in landfill each year. With approximately 300,000 babies born in Australia every year, and about 95% of them wearing disposable nappies, the trial represents a step forward for the diaper industry.

The first trial of its kind in Australia, The Nappy Loop has been underway in South Australia since July 2022 and uses anaerobic digestion to turn the organic materials in used Huggies nappies into nutrient-rich compost, as well as bioenergy that is captured and used to power the recycling process.

The Nappy Loop team is being led by Kimberly-Clark Australia, along with Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, one of South Australia’s largest composters, Peats Soils and Garden Supplies, Solo Resource Recovery, and early learning and care provider G8 Education. Together, the team has collected and recycled almost two tons of used Huggies nappies, proving that anaerobic digestion is a viable option for the recycling process.

Kimberly-Clark ANZ managing director, Belinda Driscoll says: “As Huggies is the most popular nappy brand in Australia, we not only set the standards in baby care, our goal is to set the standards for our industry in sustainability too. We believe we have a responsibility to lead by example and find better solutions for the community and our planet.”

“Families and day care centers across the country rely on the convenience and performance of disposable nappies and while we work to innovate and create more sustainable products, recycling is one solution for disposable nappy waste. Identifying a recycling solution that works hasn’t been easy due to the availability of technology and collection systems. Today is a very proud day for us, announcing that we have trialled right here in Australia, and it represents a big step in Kimberly-Clark ANZ’s sustainability strategy,” Driscoll adds.

The Nappy Loop trial has adopted a B2B model, with Solo collecting used Huggies nappies from G8 Education’s Welly Road Early Learning Centre in Mount Barker and delivering them to the Peats composting facility for processing. Utilizing anaerobic digestion, the organic material in the used nappies is transformed into nutrient-rich compost whilst the plastic components are separated and evaluated for future recycled products. In addition, the anaerobic digestion process creates bioenergy which is captured and used to power the Peats composting facility.

CSIRO’s principal research scientist Dr. Anu Kumar says: “CSIRO is working with Kimberly-Clark Australia to provide scientific validation of The Nappy Loop pilot to help tackle waste. Our research for this Australian trial will help inform the team on the potential scaling of the program to help reduce the amount of nappies ending up in landfill.”

Managing director of South Australia’s largest composter, Pete Wadewitz, says: “Anaerobic digestion is a growing area of focus and possibility in Australia. The process has been used successfully in Toronto, Canada, to recycle disposable nappies and we are excited to be introducing this innovative approach in the Southern Hemisphere as we work to solve the nappy waste issue.”

G8 Education head of early learning and education Ali Evans adds: “Through this partnership the nappies changed every day at our Welly Road center are recycled instead of going into landfill. As educators of our future generations, sustainability is a core focus in all our 440 centers across Australia and we’re excited to contribute to this partnership and the positive environmental impact it can make.”

After five months of recycling used nappies, The Nappy Loop team is now exploring the opportunity to scale the program in South Australia and nationally. This includes partnering with APR Plastics to test the recycling of the recovered plastic from the nappies using pyrolysis, with the aim of having results available in early 2023.