Holy poops!Nappies can berecycled?

Find out how Pura NappiCycle is recycling nappies in the UK.

Nappies have been recycled in Wales since 2009 - thanks to our partner NappiCycle and the support of the Welsh Government.

Partnering since 2021, Pura NappiCycle keeps 40 million nappy equivalents out of landfill in Wales annually. 

But we want all UK parents to have access to free nappy recycling. To make this happen, we need to convince local and central government, and we’re doing this with a series of nappy recycling trials in England. 

We’re delighted to announce that we’re launching our second, largest, nappy recycling trial in England in April 2024 - with a goal or recycling 1 MILLION nappies.*  

Register your interest

Tell me more about the trials

Our original Bristol nappy recycling trial in June 2022 was the first of its kind in England. During the six-month trial, we saved 31,500 used nappies from landfill, but to convince the public and government of the benefits, we must go further… 

For our second trial, which will also be run in the Bristol area, we’re aiming to recycle 1 million nappies* over 12 months. 

The nappy waste will be collected by our partner Green Bottoms and sent to NappiCycle’s plant in South Wales, where it is cleaned, and the plastics and cellulose fibres separated for re-use. Nothing is sent to landfill! Instead, the nappy fibres are repurposed for useful stuff like materials for roads. That’s really driving change! 

What’s so bad about nappy waste?

Disposable nappies are super convenient and offer an effective way to keep your baby’s bottom clean. But every day, 8 million disposable nappies are thrown into landfill in the UK. Each one takes hundreds of years to degrade – long outliving the babies they were used on.

While there’s a lot of green innovation happening in the baby care sector right now, the perfect eco nappy just doesn’t exist yet (believe us, we’ve looked).

The world can’t wait. Nappy recycling can prevent millions of tonnes of valuable resources from ending up in landfill, or being incinerated, now.

In fact, we’ve calculated that if the 3bn nappies used each year in the UK were 100% recycled, it would be the same as removing 72,000 cars from our roads annually. Wow.

Why are nappies being recycled in Wales?

It’s our vision that every UK parent has access to free kerbside nappy recycling. In reality, this will take some work! 

When it comes to recycling, Wales is a global leader. The country ranks third in the world for domestic recycling. In Wales, where nappy recycling is offered to households, it is a local authority provided service that is financially supported by the Welsh Government. 

Extending this service to the rest of the UK requires local authorities to change their waste management schedules, central government support and potentially legislative change. 

That’s why we’re running the second Bristol trial, which you can sign up for here. We hope the results will help inform and convince those in power about the feasibility and benefits of nappy recycling. We promise to keep you posted. 

Watch our progress, we’re working hard to create a big change! 

*Nappies and other absorbent hygiene waste like period care.