Radical Roofing – Nappy Changing Game Changer

Here at D-marc, we aim to make sure our readers have all the latest news that affects the roofing industry here in the UK.  We’ve already brought you information on solar panels and how small to medium business owners can decide on whether or not the installation of photovoltaic solar panels on their premises would be the right decision for their business.  

We’ve also covered the revolutionary new roof tiles from Tesla which snap together quickly and reduce installation time, and Britain’s first energy-positive office in Swansea which generates more solar energy than it uses.  

Today, we have news of another radical roofing development in the shape of roof tiles made from dirty nappies!  An innovative company is claiming to be the world’s first recycler of all types of absorbent hygiene products (AHPs – whoever would have guessed that there was an acronym for this), including dirty nappies.  After completing a successful trial run in Scotland in 2013, Knowaste (No waste, get it?) basically recycles these products into useful plastics, including roof tiles. 

Any parent among us will know just how many nappies you get through when you have babies!  Each baby born is likely to get through a mind-boggling six thousand nappies before being properly toilet trained.  This doesn’t just represent a huge expense for parents, it also creates huge problems for the environment as all these nappies eventually end up in landfill, with each one taking roughly 500 years to decompose.  Yes, there are environment-friendly nappies available, but they are twice the price of their counterparts, so this is an option only for those who can afford it.  Traditional cloth nappies are a waste-free solution, but let’s face it, who wants to be washing dirty nappies on a daily basis?  More’s the point, washing them also comes with an environmental cost when you consider the energy and water used, along with the detergents that ultimately find their way back into our water systems. 

The nappies are collected and sterilised and their components are then separated out to create new products from the plastic, the organic matter and the polymers they contain.  The nappies are currently sourced from hospitals, nursing care facilities, hygiene maintenance companies and other sources.  We’re not yet at a stage where the nappies are collected from individual households, but that is the direction in which we must go if we want to reduce our impact on the environment and protect our planet from the waste we generate on a daily basis, both domestic waste and commercial waste.

When it comes to commercial waste, the construction industry is one of the biggest generators of it here in the UK.  Over the coming weeks, we’ll be taking a look at Considerate Constructor’s latest initiative aimed at reducing the amount of waste produced by construction activity.  Don’t miss out on the information you need to do your part in the #WarOnPlastic, follow us on Twitter and Facebook to discover how you can help protect the environment when working on the roof.