As reported by the BBC News, developers are recycling the fibres used in disposable nappies for commercial applications including resurfacing roads
The project, run by recycling company Nappicycle and supported by the Welsh government, reuses the fibres from nappies for commercial applications.
The Welsh government is backing the project with £180,000 worth of funding. The hope is to both resurface stretches of the A487 and reduce the number of nappies that end up in landfills.
Currently, approximately 140m disposable nappies are thrown away every year in Wales.
Director of NappiCycle, Rob Poyer, said: “We can produce a low carbon fibre with some better elements to it, to give a stronger, better road.”
The company wanted to make it clear the new development will not smell any different from normal roads.
“It’s been a wonderful collaboration with all different Welsh parties, Welsh government, Welsh labs and the like over this project,” Mr Poyer added.
Technician in enzyme chemistry at Bangor University’s Centre of Environmental Biotechnology, Gwion Williams, is encouraged by the initiative.
“The fact that to date only 8% of plastic that has ever been produced has been recycled, and only 1% is actually in secondary use goes to show that the solutions we have at the moment are just not good enough.
“So that necessitates thinking outside the box in different ways and this kind of approach is an encouraging one,” said Mr Williams.
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