Huggies Sponsors NZ’s First Nappy Composting Plant

Huggies Nappies® Sponsors NZ’s First Commercial Nappy Composting Plant

Christchurch, August 7, 2009: HUGGIES® Nappies and the Envirocomp Solution was officially opened in Canterbury this morning by the Honourable Dr Nick Smith Minister for the Environment.

Representatives from local and central government, business leaders, representatives from the College of Midwives, the Royal NZ Plunket Society, the local community, family and friends joined the Minister to congratulate Karen and Karl Upston on establishing the first commercial nappy composting facility in New Zealand.

Grant Hartley Head of Marketing for Kimberly-Clark which produces HUGGIES® Nappies, the official sponsor of the Envirocomp Solution said the initiative has all the hallmark features of Kiwi ingenuity.

“This is home grown New Zealand technology which has been commercialised by local businesses to develop the first commercial plant to compost nappies and other sanitary products along with green waste. Internationally there have been trials to recycle nappies and compost some of the component parts but this is the first time that we have seen a realistic full scale alternative to putting nappies into landfill.”

“To my knowledge this is also the first time that a global nappy brand has helped to commercialise the composting of nappies and we are delighted that the HUGGIES® brand is involved.”

Co-founder Karen Upston says today’s opening could not have happened without the help of many people, “We knew that to be successful we would need to gain the support of the private and public sector because as a small business we could not do this on our own. To have global nappy manufacturer HUGGIES® come to the party with commercial sponsorship early on was a major step forward.”

The HUGGIES® Nappies & Envirocomp Solution is a privately owned business operated by Karen and Karl Upston which developed from an initial small scale trial in 2007 using a prototype compost unit.

This has now been commercialised at a site provided by the Hurunui District Council and will initially process 15,000 nappies a day mixed with green waste supplied by the local councils. As demand increases, additional HotRot compost units will be installed.

Nappies are processed with green waste through an enclosed composting unit. This is effectively a U shaped vessel with a rotating shaft running through it. Nappies and green waste enter one end and move down the vessel and over a period of two to three weeks the waste decomposes to produce compost.

Controlled temperatures eliminate all pathogens and ensure the full composting process is complete. Then the compost is screened to remove materials that can’t be composted such as the plastic from the nappies. The final compost can be used for commercial gardening or landscaping.

Karen said: “The cost of the service works out at $5.30 per week based on a 6 month subscription to cover the cost of bags, collection and processing. However I am delighted to announce today that Kaikoura and Waimakariri District Councils are offering a $1 per week subsidy to their residents who subscribe for the 6 month collection service. So for the cost of a cup of coffee parents can choose to make a difference.”

“I would urge other councils around New Zealand to consider including nappy composting as an integral part of their Waste Minimisation strategy. We know from our research that parents want this option and are prepared to pay for it. With the waste levy now in place businesses like mine hope that funding will be available so that we can replicate the Envirocomp model in many more communities.”

The new subscription service will start on August 17th. Nappies and incontinence products will be collected from households and businesses in the Christchurch, Waimakariri, Hurunui and Kaikoura Districts.

ENDS

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