KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 23 — In a world first, a stretch of road in Wales, UK, is using nappies to be resurfaced.
A total of 107,000 used nappies were used to resurface the 2.25 kilometres stretch of the A487 between Cardigan and Aberystwyth, Wales Online reported.
Supported by the Welsh government, the initiative could see a reduction of billions of nappies being disposed of at landfills in the UK annually.
Three billion nappies are disposed of in the UK, with 400,000 tonnes of nappy waste in landfill annually and nappies can take up to 500 years to break down.
For the road resurfacing project, recovered fibre from the nappies was added to the bitumen that glues together asphalt road surfaces.
The “nappy-enhanced” asphalt is even more durable than standard asphalt, but with a reduced carbon footprint.
The process was developed by Rob Poyer, founder of NappiCycle, in 2009 that saw used nappies cleaned, and plastics and cellulose fibres separated for re-use.
The recovered cellulose can also be re-purposed not just for road surfacing, but for notice boards for schools and offices, panelling, under laminate flooring and other insulation.
