Nappy poo now becomes profit

The Hague – Fed-up with a growing mountain of stinking disposable nappies, a Dutch firm started building the country’s first recycling plant to turn poo into profit.

Plastic from the nappies extracted by the facility in the central Dutch town of Weurt, near Nijmegen, will have a second life as household items like garden furniture or flower pots.

“In total, we plan to process 15 000 tons of nappies a year,” said Harrie Arends, spokesperson for the ARN energy company which will run the plant.

Worldwide, disposable diapers are a major source of pollution with millions of tons being dumped in landfills every year, forming a major health hazard, according to environmental watchdogs.

Slated to start its first recycling operations by December, the factory will initially have one steel “reactor”, using high-pressure steam to separate plastic in disposable nappies from urine and faeces.

“The old disposable nappies are heated to 2500C under pressure and everything becomes liquified,” said Arends. “The plastic granules float on top and will be separated.”