Towards a Healthy Nappy Planet

As someone who works in the field of communications, I am used to writing about almost anything. However, the topic of soiled diapers are not something I have ever really felt comfortable with despite them playing such a crucial role in healthcare and almost 40 billion being sold every year.

Given people’s squeamishness on the subject, it’s easy for people to ignore the fact that adult incontinence products are a far bigger waste problem than baby diapers, with studies suggesting waste from adult incontinence products will outnumber infant diapers by between 4 and 10 times by 2030.

Taking action

 So why is it that I am blogging about this subject?

 Recently I registered to take part in Bupa’s eco-Disruptive program, where I joined a team of people across Bupa Asia Pacific to help develop a solution to some of the environment’s biggest problems with the help of an innovative start-up.

 While it may have been easier to investigate practices like minimising water use or planting more trees my team chose to investigate diaper waste understanding that Bupa is a major aged care provider around the world.

It may not be the most sexy or fun solution, but its importance cannot be underestimated and I’m so proud of my team for being brave in this respect.

 Finding a sustainable partner

 While most people don’t want to talk about adult incontinence, let alone address it from a sustainability standpoint, you can imagine how hard it was to find a start-up that would be willing to help us on our journey. Until we met DiaperRecycle.

This amazing start-up separates the plastic and the fibre. The plastic goes to plastic recyclers, and from the super absorbent fibre, they make cat litter which was a huge tick from me as an animal lover!

Their cat litter is half the weight of other fibrous litters, so will release less carbon. If your pet uses 1L of DiaperRecycle’s litter it will save 1kg of climate-changing emissions.

Small steps forward

I don’t normally work in aged care or in sustainability so initially, I wasn’t sure what to expect when embarking on our eco-Disruptive journey. But as the months went by, I began to realise that we may be on the cusp of something incredible with DiaperRecycle.

We are working on a limited pilot which we believe can make a profound impact through a few simple and small changes to our operations. Depending on the results we hope to turn this into something even bigger for Bupa and indeed planet Earth.

So here’s to facing up to the challenges we don’t necessarily want to talk about. We all have them, it’s just a matter of being real with yourself and being brave in your business!