In the great nappy debate, finding solution to disposing of disposables at the kerbside other than in the residual waste bin hasn’t been forthcoming, until now.

Today, Cheshire West and Chester Council has announced that it is set to become the first local authority in England to offer residents a dedicated weekly absorbent hygiene products (AHP) recycling service, which includes nappies, sanitary products and incontinence pads.

And over in Wales, the SE Wales Regional Group Monmouthshire and Cardiff Council are officially launching a six-month trial, which began earlier this month, of separately collecting nappy waste from almost 2,500 households. Resource Efficiency Wales has set up and will manage the performance of this trial period for the benefit of the Regional Group of local authorities. Further details will be released tomorrow at the launch.

Both trials will be using Knowaste’s nappy recycling plant, which opened last September in West Bromwich. The facility utilises an autoclave to break up absorbent hygiene products and sterilise them before compressing the plastic into pellets for reuse.

In West Cheshire, the free weekly subscription service intended to be delivered in partnership with May Gurney, will initially run as a six-month pilot in the Vale Royal area, starting in April – and it is hoped it will roll out across West Cheshire by the end of the year, providing funding is available.

Councillor Lynn Riley, Executive Member for Community and Environment, said: “In our borough alone, almost 5,000 tonnes of nappies go to landfill every year.

“The new trial service will allow us to recycle over 25 tonnes of nappies every week.”

Councillor Riley added: “The Nappy-cycle service will complement our real nappy campaign to promote the use of washable cotton nappies.

“Parents in West Cheshire now have real choice in how they can reduce their nappy waste.”

Roy Brown CEO Knowaste added: “With the majority of the UK’s one million tonnes per annum of absorbent hygiene wastes generated at home, the West Cheshire weekly nappy recycling trial is heralding a new era in kerbside recycling and convenience for families.”

“Knowaste specialises in recycling absorbent hygiene products and recovering the highly valuable plastics and fibres for reuse in new plastic product and fibre tubing and board.

“We already work with the UK’s leading hygiene and washroom companies to recycle their commercial absorbent hygiene waste. Recycling domestic nappy waste has long been seen as a real challenge, Knowaste are looking forward to working with Cheshire West and Chester Council to help them deliver this innovative new service which also delivers on carbon reduction.”

Some 56,000 households in the pilot area will be invited to subscribe to the free Nappy-cycle service so collections can be targeted at properties that need it the most. The service will also be available to residents who need to dispose of adult incontinence products, although Resource has been told by several industry insiders that ‘to avoid stigma’ any collection container would need to look like something else.

Subscribing households will be provided with a supply of collection sacks and an outdoor storage container.

Combined with the additional recyclable materials being introduced as part of the Recycle First weekly collection of recycling and waste being rolled out across the borough over the coming months, it will enable households to recycle up to 80 per cent of their waste.

An application has been submitted to the Government’s Weekly Collection Support Fund to expand the trial Nappy-cycle service across West Cheshire.

The next issue of Resource, out now, looks in detail at both the Knowaste process, including a lifecycle assessment, and the New Zealand’s Envirocomp technology which uses a HotRot machine to compost nappies. The latter’s parent company OCS has stated that they are also looking to trial kerbside collections of AHP waste for composting in the not too distant future.

With the average child getting through 4,000 nappies by the age of two and a half, a more environmental solution to disposable is certainly welcome news.