By far the majority of nappies and incontinence products currently end up in the residual waste, amounting to some 400 kilotonnes of nappies a year in the Netherlands alone. These converted 65,000 full rubbish bags constitute approximately 6% of total residual waste. The Dutch government has decided that this has to change: by 2026, agreements must be in place to make the entire production chain circular. This responsibility is already in force in several other chains, such as electronic equipment, batteries and accumulators and, since this year, also textiles. Sjors Witjes mentions the four circular pillars that also apply to dirty disposable incontinence pants: prevention, reuse, alternative design (redesign), and recycling. “Having studied in Delft, I’m mostly interested in redesign, but now we are setting our sights on recycling.”
Special rubbish bags
The Nijmegen region is in the lucky possession of a combined waste and energy plant, the ARN in Weurt. Separating the disposable incontinence pants into plastic materials and dirty waste can only be done under extremely high pressure and temperature: in short, a lot of energy has to go in before you get anything out. “As the only plant of this kind in the Netherlands, ARN has the combined plants needed for this,” says Witjes. The figures prove that the Netherlands still has a long way to go: At full capacity, the ARN can only process 15 kilotonnes. “We are still missing 385 kilotons.”
Thanks to the efforts of waste processor DAR, the chain is now well organised in Nijmegen: nappies are collected from people's homes in special turquoise rubbish bags and then deposited in special nappy containers, for example at childcare centres and playgroups. Hospitals and healthcare institutions have their own containers for incontinence products. “It's a real shame that 10% of this waste stream is thrown away into the containers without ever being used,” says Witjes. Bin lorries take this waste to Weurt, where it is separated into plastic pellets and compost material.
Superabsorber
Last year, ARN commissioned students from the Honours Academy to study the circularity of this waste stream. Witjes, who supervised this student group, says that the next step involves creating a central implementing organisation, similar to other circular sectors. “This kind of organisation takes care of funding, implementation and contact with the government on behalf of all parties, such as the Netherlands Packaging Waste Fund Foundation in the packaging sector. We really need something similar in the nappy sector.”
As a member of ARN's Supervisory Board, Witjes now knows the industry inside and out. Knowledge institutions and market players regularly meet in the region, sometimes resulting in remarkable collaborations. Witjes points to the most difficult element of disposable incontinence pants to recycle, the superabsorbers. “A paint manufacturer once attended one of our meetings, and this opened a new avenue for reuse. The absorber in question seems to be highly suitable for recycling old paint residues into new paint. A great example of the gains you can achieve when you join forces in the region.”
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