California City Begins Diaper Recycling Program

Unique municipal recycling plan looks to develop diaper recycling program.

The City of Santa Clarita and Knowaste LLC announced the launch of the nation's first diaper recycling program.

"This marks the first time a municipality in the United States has decided to make recycling diapers an environmental priority and provided a solution to the overwhelming amount of diapers in the waste stream," said Mayor Frank Ferry. "Santa Clarita has a long history in environmental stewardship and leadership and we are very pleased to add one more innovative component to our city's overall recycling strategy."

Recycling diapers in Santa Clarita will be as easy as recycling soda cans, newspapers or yard trimmings. Approximately 200-500 residents, selected by the city, will participate in this free, six-month pilot program, placing used diapers in specially designed plastic bags and/or curbside bins to be picked up on their regular trash pick-up day. The Knowaste process will sanitize and recycle the diapers' primary components. The recycled plastic can be used in the production of plastic wood, roof shingles and vinyl wood siding. The long fibrous wood pulp can be used in many different applications, including wallpaper, shoe insoles and oil filters.

The program was made possible by state and local matching grant funds. The City of Santa Clarita selected Knowaste to provide the technology and equipment to recycle the disposable diapers. Over a decade in development and testing, Knowaste has a demonstrated and successful track record, first in Canada and the Netherlands, and now in Santa Clarita, in handling and recycling millions of diapers. The Knowaste processor in Santa Clarita will be a small-scale version of the company's Netherlands facility and will be capable of processing up to a ton of diapers per hour.

Santa Clarita's program was also made possible through the involvement and sponsorship of Blue Barrel Disposal/Santa Clarita Disposal and Browning Ferris Industries of California.

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