Can You Build A House Out Of Dirty Diapers?

[lil_angel]

Even the most dedicated reuse enthusiast would have trouble repurposing dirty diapers. But thanks to an innovative recycler, they may soon be used for green building.

A recycling company plans to open five facilities in the U.K. that will recycle used diapers, adult incontinence and feminine hygiene products to create building materials like roofing shingles and synthetic wood.

Knowaste, a Canadian recycler that specializes in absorbent hygiene product (AHP) waste, celebrated the opening of its first U.K. plant this week, according to an article published by The Guardian on Monday.

The first site, located in West Bromwich, England, is the beginning of a

[ForbiddenFruit]

Q: How will you know if your house it made out of recycled diapers?

A: By the smell when the sun comes up.

[Yvhuce]

I think we're better off going with the "turn them into fuel pellets and burn them to make electricity" angle...

[rusty pins]

Interesting! Your dog could pee in the house and it would absorbe it all! Cat owners wouldn't need litter boxes anymore! Seriously, any recycling is good for the enviroment, but using used diapers as building materials? I'd want to wait and see how it works for others first.

[vins didee]

i have to say i'm with Rusty on this one

[diapertime42]

Interesting! Your dog could pee in the house and it would absorbe it all! Cat owners wouldn't need litter boxes anymore! Seriously, any recycling is good for the enviroment, but using used diapers as building materials? I'd want to wait and see how it works for others first.

Damn it!!! Here I've been throwing away perfectly good crappy cat litter for over 20 years! I coulda made a fortune, turning them into building bricks!

[Creepymouse]

IIRC, SAP is based on cellulose, paper pulp is...paper pulp, and the remainder of the diaper is plastic of one form or another. The trouble is dividing the materials into separate streams for different purposes.

Recycled bottles are used for all sorts of things, but even though it would probably work fine, I don't think I've ever seen bottles made from recycled bottles. Something to do with people thinking it's unsanitary perhaps?

I'm reminded of the episode of Spongebob where they raised a baby scallop. Patrick was like "how many diapers could it possibly use?" Then he sees the diaper pail, the trash can, and a mountain of diapers in the back yard. XD

[square_duck]

Well, recycling diapers and 'absorbant materials' into things like roofing materials / shingles might work....just thing when it rains, your roof wont leak....until it has absorbed more then enough and then it would just crush the house!!!!!

I guess we 'could' recycle diapers and such for building materials....but 'should' we??

[Dirty Diaper/Maxipad Lover]

IIRC, SAP is based on cellulose, paper pulp is...paper pulp, and the remainder of the diaper is plastic of one form or another. The trouble is dividing the materials into separate streams for different purposes.

This is, or at least was the problem prior to Knowaste and a few others developing suitable workarounds. Knowaste isn't exactly new to diaper recycling--a few years back they conducted pilot programs in the US and UK--the one in the US was based out of California, although I don't remember where the one in the UK was located. They basically determined that they could sterilize use diapers, separate the materials in them, and basically recycle those materials into new products. Insulation and roofing shingles were two of the first products Knowaste claimed the recycled materials could be used for. It looks like they're finally moving out of the pilot phase and into a full roll-out, at least in the UK.