{"id":177631,"date":"2026-06-15T07:35:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T05:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=177631"},"modified":"2026-06-10T14:16:33","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T12:16:33","slug":"177631-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/177631-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Woosh, Borouge International, and BlueAlp demonstrate circular pathway for diaper plastics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\"At
At chemical recycler BlueAlp, plastic from Woosh baby diapers is converted into a circular feedstock for new polymers. \u00a9 BlueAlp<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
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  • Woosh, Borouge International and BlueAlp demonstrate that plastics from used baby diapers can be recovered and returned to the value chain<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Recovered diaper plastics are chemically recycled into ISCC PLUS-certified pyrolysis oil suitable for new polymer production, including diaper applications<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • The achievement marks a first at industrial scale in Europe, providing a credible pathway to circularity in the hygiene sector<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n
    \n
    \"Photo:
    Photo: Woosh diapers are designed with recycling in mind. After use, they are collected and separated into their constituent materials, enabling the plastics to be chemically recycled into feedstock for new materials. \u00a9 Woosh\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

    Disposable baby diapers are one of the clearest examples of the linear economy: they are typically used once and sent to incineration or landfill with no material recovery, despite containing valuable polyolefin-based nonwovens and films. Based on consumption data, Cabrera and Garcia (2019) estimated that 6.73 million metric tons of disposable baby diapers were generated in the EU\u201128 in 2017, highlighting the scale of this largely unrecovered waste stream across Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In response, Woosh, a Belgium-based circular diaper brand, Borouge International, a global leader in polyolefin solutions, and BlueAlp, a leading chemical recycling player with a commercially operating plant in Oostende, Belgium, have collaborated to close the loop on diaper plastics. Together, the companies have demonstrated that plastics from used baby diapers can be recovered and chemically recycled into feedstock for new polymers. This marks the first time this circular loop has been demonstrated at industrial scale in Europe, opening a credible, scalable pathway for one of the continent\u2019s most challenging waste streams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    A value chain approach to a complex waste stream<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    The achievement builds on Woosh\u2019s closed-loop ecosystem for diapers. At its core is the Woosh give-back diaper, which is optimized for recycling. Woosh supplies these diapers to childcare facilities and households and collects them again after use, creating a separate, traceable stream of used diapers for recycling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This dedicated waste stream forms the basis for further processing. Borouge International and BlueAlp worked with Woosh engineers to define the quality requirements the recovered plastic needed to meet to be used as input for BlueAlp\u2019s chemical recycling technology. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Woosh then optimized their proprietary mechanical separation process to produce plastic fractions that meet these requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The first industrial scale recycling runs were carried out at BlueAlp\u2019s plant in Oostende, Belgium. The recovered plastic fractions were processed using BlueAlp\u2019s pyrolysis technology, which converts them into a liquid hydrocarbon known as pyrolysis oil. This pyrolysis oil is ISCC PLUS-certified and meets the required quality specifications for further processing into new polymers, including those suitable for new diaper production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n

    \u201cChemically recycling the plastic from used diapers is anything but straightforward. It requires careful pre-processing to meet the specifications of the pyrolysis process,\u201d says Peter Voortmans, Borealis Vice President Marketing Consumer Products<\/strong>. \u201cTogether with Woosh and BlueAlp, we\u2019ve been able to solve this challenge, showing what\u2019s possible when teams work closely together with a shared goal.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

    Building a new model for circularity in the hygiene sector<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Woosh is already scaling its model. The company currently supplies and collects diapers across Belgium, with over 30,000 children using the Woosh give-back diaper system each day. Its diaper recycling plant, launched in 2025, processes thousands of metric tons of used diapers per year. In the near future, its operations are set to expand into France and the Netherlands, increasing the volume of recovered plastic available for recycling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    \u201cWe have spent years building the collection network and the technology to make this possible,\u201d says Jeff Stubbe, CEO Woosh<\/strong>. \u201cTo see the plastic we recover from used diapers validated as feedstock for new polymer production, and potentially for new diapers in the future, is exactly what we set out to achieve. This is what closing the loop actually looks like.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cThis is a fundamental example of what we want to achieve at scale with BlueAlp\u201d says Valentijn de Neve, CEO, BlueAlp<\/strong>. \u201cIt\u2019s fantastic to see that, together, we can address difficult-to-recycle waste streams that cannot be effectively managed through mechanical recycling, enabling them to be chemically recycled and returned to demanding applications such as diapers in the healthcare and hygiene sector.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

    The broader significance is clear. Across Europe, large volumes of absorbent hygiene products still follow a linear path to incineration or landfill. This collaboration is a meaningful proof of concept for circularity in the sector, demonstrating that even the most challenging waste streams can be brought back into use when the entire system is carefully designed to work together.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Disposable baby diapers are one of the clearest examples of the linear economy: they are typically used once and sent to incineration or landfill with no material recovery, despite containing valuable polyolefin-based nonwovens and films. Based on consumption data, Cabrera and Garcia (2019) estimated that 6.73 million metric tons of disposable baby diapers were generated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":177633,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","nova_meta_subtitle":"Disposable baby diapers are one of the clearest examples of the linear economy: they are typically used once and sent to incineration or landfill with no material recovery, despite containing valuable polyolefin-based nonwovens and films","footnotes":""},"categories":[17143],"tags":[10416,13661,19249,17034,10453],"supplier":[19051,3036,28014],"class_list":["post-177631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-recycling","tag-circulareconomy","tag-films","tag-hygiene","tag-nonwovens","tag-recycling","supplier-bluealp","supplier-borealis-polyolefine-ag","supplier-woosh"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/114"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177631"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177631\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":177642,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177631\/revisions\/177642"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/177633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177631"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=177631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}