Zuhal Demir spearheads nappy recycling in “recycling hub Flanders”

Flanders is determined to be a leader in the circular economy. In order to strengthen our position internationally, Flemish Environment Minister Zuhal Demir is investing an extra EUR 30 million in innovative recycling initiatives. “Flanders must be a leading recycling hub at European and world level. Investing in the circular economy means investing in our environment,” Zuhal Demir says. The Minister is raising nappy recycling as a priority, alongside asbestos waste and plastics. “Every year, 65,000 tonnes of babies’ nappies end up on the waste mountain. We want to do something about that,” Zuhal Demir says.

“Every mum or dad will agree. Bringing a little munchkin into the world also means changing a lot of nappies. During the time your baby is in nappies, so from birth until he or she is toilet trained, an average of about 4,000 nappies will need to be changed. However, almost all nappies currently still end up in the residual waste and are incinerated. 65,000 tonnes per year, without counting nurseries and residential care centres. It is thus an incredible amount,” Zuhal Demir says.

European leader in recycling

Nevertheless, Flanders is the European leader in selective collection and recycling. 69% of household waste is collected selectively, and 66% is ultimately also actually recycled, composted or reused. “If we can succeed in rolling out a recycling project to give nappies a second life, we can make the waste mountain even smaller. A challenge that I absolutely want to take on,” the Minister says.

Giving nappies a second life

Zuhal Demir is allocating an additional EUR 30 million to invest in innovative recycling initiatives that will enable Flanders to be a world leader. This will make nappy recycling one of the priorities, in cooperation with leading research organisations and companies. Together with the Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), OVAM will investigate the possibilities of giving nappies a second life. Similar experiments are already taking place at Elsinga in the Netherlands. Furthermore, Zuhal Demir is also looking for alternatives to dumping asbestos waste in the soil and is seeking to improve the recycling of plastics and textiles.

“Aside from our ambitions for the circular economy, these additional resources can provide the necessary boost that companies need to get up and running effectively with a new technique and to scale up. After all, these investments will be made in promising techniques and on top of existing initiatives.”

Less residual waste, fewer emissions

At the beginning of this year, Zuhal Demir had already come up with a plastics plan that reinforced Flanders’ pioneering role in Europe in the circular economy. The ambition is to reduce the amount of residual waste by at least another 25% by 2030. “Less residual waste also means fewer CO2 emissions. To achieve this effectively, we need to do two things. Keep recyclable streams out of our waste as much as possible and at the same time ensure that ever more waste streams can be recycled. Innovation plays an important role in this, and that is why these additional resources are now being provided,” Zuhal Demir concludes.