Making diapers circular
Our mission
It's a bit of a shitty situation. While we care for babies, we damage the environment with the mountain of diaper waste we leave behind. With up to 4,800 diapers per toilet-trained baby (Cabrera and Garcia, 2019), we could easily create a few Mont Blancs of diaper waste on Earth.
The alternatives to disposable diapers are often not practical and require a lot of time and energy. That is why Woosh's mission is to save disposable diapers from the landfill, without child care workers and parents having to change anything about their habits. This is how we ensure happy baby bottoms and a cleaner planet. How good is that?
MAKing SLIDES CIRCULAR
Woosh wants to make disposable diapers circular. Because our responsibility does not stop with offering the diaper. We are convinced that it is not the disposable diaper that is the problem, but rather what happens to it after use.
Today, used diapers still end up as residual waste. This causes valuable materials to be lost, and worse, they are burned! This causes unnecessary CO 2 emissions: on the one hand for reproducing these materials, and on the other hand by burning the waste. If we want to keep global warming under control, this is not sustainable.
Woosh is determined to change this! We want to recover and recycle these materials. That is why we collect the diapers after use and process them in a sustainable way. We developed 'the one and only' Woosh give-back diaper: a diaper that is made in such a way that we can recycle it with a unique process developed by Woosh. From now on, used Woosh diapers will no longer be disposed of with the residual waste, but we will take them with us and process them into reusable materials. And that is how we close the loop. Every change matters, and we are convinced of that!
Did you know...
...approximately in Europe alone 33 billion baby diapers are used per year, accounting for approximately 6.7 million tons of waste? (Cabrera and Garcia, 2019)
…the share of used diapers in Belgium accounts for 7.5% of residual waste every year? (OVAM, 2022)
Woosh revolution in detail
- The Woosh give-back diaper is designed to be recycled. The unique feature here is the recycled material in the waterproof layer. The Woosh diaper is the first on the market where the waterproof layer consists of 100% recycled materials.
- Woosh provides a convenient diaper service: from online ordering to deliveries at the location of your choice, and from handy packaging to clear color and size indications... everything to help you unburden yourself.
- The used diapers are collected again using the same transport.
- The used diapers are recycled at the Woosh Recycling site.
- The plastics are recycled and converted into new valuable raw materials, which can be put back on the market. The organic components are currently being studied to see what can have the greatest 'low impact'.
The Woosh way
From the fall of 2024, Woosh will start recycling Woosh diapers, with the official opening at the end of January 2025. We developed our own recycling process for this, tailored to our give-back diaper. As a first step in this process, we focus on the efficient separation of materials and on the recycling of plastic.
how we realize our mission
The Woosh diaper was specially designed for optimal recycling and is the first diaper to use 100% recycled plastic, both in the packaging and in the diaper. And that is unique!
Not only do we deliver the Woosh diapers to childcare, we also collect the used diapers at the same time. This creates a source-separated waste stream that allows us to process the diapers sustainably.
Diapers contain materials that can be perfectly recycled and reused in our economy. Because waste is only waste if we waste it. We will therefore start recycling our diapers from autumn 2024. We developed a unique recycling process for this, tailored to our diaper.
continuous innovation
Although we have already taken important steps in our recycling story, we still have a long way to go. We realize that.
That is why we continue to focus on research, development and innovation. In this way, we want to further optimize our existing processes and at the same time look for ways to valorize the other materials in diapers.
To facilitate this, we built our own recycling and R&D center in Bruges. The very first in Belgium! We developed an innovative separation process for this that is efficient and energy-saving and ensures that the properties of the materials we separate are retained. We start by separating the materials into two streams: plastics and organic materials. We recycle the plastics first because they account for the largest share of the CO₂ impact. The next step is to develop solutions to fully reuse the organic components as well, so that the diaper will be fully recyclable in the future. In this way, each new generation of Woosh diapers will contain more and more bio-based and recycled materials.
Read more about this milestone and the full Woosh story here.
important milestones
JANUARY 2021
Origin of Woosh
MARCH 2021
Launch of R&D program on logistics solutions and diaper recycling technologies
JUNE 2021
Already 1,000 children use the Woosh service every day
DECEMBER 2022
Woosh serves 10,000 children every day from 4 logistics depots: Ghent, Antwerp, Hasselt and Leuven
JANUARY 2023
Start-up recycling program with its own process tailored to our diaper
MAY 2023
Woosh is active throughout Belgium
AUGUST 2023
Partnership with IVBO Bruges
APRIL 2024
Launch of new Woosh diaper
NOVEMBER 2024
Startup recycling
JANUARY 2025
Official opening of recycling
WHAT OUR CUSTOMERS SAY
JOIN OUR MISSION!
Become a Wooshie and support the path to a sustainable future for our children. Together we build a more beautiful planet with less waste and less CO 2 emissions!
