Angelini

Waste not, want not: P&G venture aims to squeeze new life out of Italy's dirty diapers

3 years ago - A joint venture between Procter & Gamble and Italian healthcare group Angelini is working to create a sustainable recycling loop that would allow dirty diapers to be turned into plastic bottle caps and viscose clothing. More than 20 million tonnes of disposable diapers are burned or dumped in landfills globally every year - a major environmental problem since their use became widespread in the 1960s and 1970s. Part of the problem is that collecting, cleaning and breaking diapers into their component parts - plastic, cellulose and super absorbent polymer - is tricky and expensive. The other issue is that no-one has been able to establish a market for the recycled output, dooming previous commercial efforts to failure.