and to think i can't get my hausmates to seperate cans and bottles from the trash..

[Guest guest]

Dutch city cradle of European diaper recycling

--

 

NETHERLANDS: August 17, 2001

 

 

AMSTERDAM - A Dutch city this week embarks on a dirty job in a bid to clean up

the environment: recycling the disposable nappies of its youngest citizens.

 

 

Parents in Arnhem have started dropping nappies sealed in plastic bags into

special bins outside two child care facilities and a local recycling firm has

been hired to extract wood pulp and plastic from the waste, the city council

said this week.

Knowaste BV, the subsidiary of a Canadian firm, plans to collect Arnhem's annual

200,000 kilos of nappies from 40 bins in the city, many of which will be outside

childcare centres, once the project is fully up and running later this year.

 

The company, which will treat waste water and turn sludge into compost during

recycling, is set to collect its first week's offerings from Arnhem's babies and

toddlers on Friday.

 

" We hope that within two years it will be as normal to separate your diapers as

glass and cans. It's all automated and computerised, " Knowaste BV's sales

manager Niels Willems said.

 

" The process is more environmentally friendly than landfill or incineration. By

recycling the waste we save water, energy and wood. "

 

The company will collect the nappies for recycling at its local plant for the

same price the council paid another firm to incinerate the waste in the past,

Arnhem city council said.

 

Children in the Netherlands each use some 6,000 nappies by the time they are 30

months old and create some 180 million kilos of waste every year.

 

Environmentalists estimate disposable nappies in landfill sites could take up to

500 years to decompose and have urged parents to return to using washable

nappies.

 

 

 

REUTERS NEWS SERVICE

[Guest guest]

Fraggle

 

> AMSTERDAM - A Dutch city this week embarks on a dirty job in a bid to

clean up the environment: recycling the disposable nappies of its youngest

citizens.

 

That's good, but what a job :-(. I know disposable nappies are a big

problem. I don't suppose the UK will ever get round to recycling them.

 

Jo

[Guest guest]

doubt it will ever happen here in the states either.....

disposable is so ingrained in the culture here....

 

" Snowbow " <Snowbow wrote:

 

>Fraggle

>

>> AMSTERDAM - A Dutch city this week embarks on a dirty job in a bid to

>clean up the environment: recycling the disposable nappies of its youngest

>citizens.

>

>That's good, but what a job :-(. I know disposable nappies are a big

>problem. I don't suppose the UK will ever get round to recycling them.

>

>Jo

>

>

>

>To send an email to -

>

>