Photo: Karolina Grabowska | Pexels
Wales' diaper road is a unique pilot project that could not only reduce landfill waste, but influence parents who are weighing cloth vs. disposable diapers. The diapers were rinsed, shredded into fibrous gray pellets, mixed with asphalt and slathered over a 1.5-mile stretch of highway. Ben Lake, who represents the area in Britain's Parliament, says it "could be a game-changer for how we approach infrastructure in Wales," while helping to tackle the "here and now" problem of 140 million discarded disposable diapers annually. NappiCycle, which supplied the pellets, recycles about 40 million diapers a year and has used them to make construction panels, pinup boards and coasters. While some areas in Wales ask households using disposable diapers to set them out in a separate bin for collection each week, it is cheaper for local authorities to send the diapers to an incinerator or landfill than to Poyer's plant. But the recycling is "viable because the Welsh government wants a green economy," Poyer said.
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