Life Cycle Assessment of the Closed-Loop Recycling of Used Disposable Diapers

Norihiro Itsubo, Mitsuhiro Wada, Shigeo Imai, Akira Myoga, Naoki Makino and Koichi Shobatake
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Norihiro Itsubo: Faculty of Environmental Studies, Tokyo City University, 3-3-1 Ushikubo-nishi, Tsuzuki-ku, Yokohama 224-8551, Japan
Mitsuhiro Wada: ESG division, Unicharm Corporation, 1531-7 Wadahama, Toyohama-cho, Kanonji, Kagawa 769-1602, Japan
Shigeo Imai: ESG division, Unicharm Corporation, 1531-7 Wadahama, Toyohama-cho, Kanonji, Kagawa 769-1602, Japan
Akira Myoga: ESG division, Unicharm Corporation, 1531-7 Wadahama, Toyohama-cho, Kanonji, Kagawa 769-1602, Japan
Naoki Makino: TCO2 Co., Ltd., 23-2 Bancho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0082, Japan
Koichi Shobatake: TCO2 Co., Ltd., 23-2 Bancho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0082, Japan

Resources, 2020, vol. 9, issue 3, 1-15

Abstract: In Japan, approximately 23.5 billion paper diapers are produced annually (total of diapers for infants and adults produced in 2018). The majority of used paper diapers are disposed of through incineration; in certain regions, some paper diapers are recycled, mostly by open-loop recycling or thermal recycling. To date, several methods of recycling used paper diapers have been proposed and developed, but these methods are considered to have different types and amounts of recycled materials and different environmental performances. In this study, a new technology was developed for the closed-loop recycling of used paper diapers, and the use of the recycled pulp and superabsorbent polymer (SAP) as materials for paper diapers was evaluated via the environmental impact using the life cycle assessment (LCA) method, using data obtained from experimental facilities for recycling. The results between the comparison of the new method with the landfill and incineration processes demonstrate a greenhouse gas reduction of 47% and 39%, respectively. The results also show that such recycling is expected to reduce land-use occupation and water consumption, closely related to the pulp, main raw material of paper diapers.

Keywords: disposable paper diaper; material recycling; closed-loop recycling; life cycle assessment (LCA) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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