Nappy plant in the poo

That was the headline over an article in one of my local papers, the Berwick/Pakenham Cardinia Leader, on Wednesday. It reports on the failure of a nappy recycling service, called MyPlanet.

Commencing in 2004, with Casey and Cardinia councils among its first clients, it was hoped the service “would ease the landfill burden created by the 4,000 tonnes of disposable nappies the city’s 9,500 0-2-year-olds produced annually.”

(To put that 4,000 tonnes in perspective, try to imagine a 4 followed by three zeros. Then factor in the abominable stench.)

The MyPlanet service first hit problems when many families baulked at the $200 annual fee. Then on October 6 the company announced it had closed operations due to “technical problems”.

MyPlanet spokesman Clayton Crameri said the company had set its sights on signing up 10,000 households.

But having achieved only 50 per cent of that target, MyPlanet found its Noble Park plant had already reached processing capacity.

“We are talking to our technical partners in North America to find solutions to increase processing capacity of the plant,” he said.

“But because we are the innovators in this field, we have to create a solution from scratch. So we are unable to confirm when we will open operations again at this stage.”

Casey Deputy Mayor Rob Wilson said it was a disappointing outcome. ...

“We absolutely need the service and I hope to see it relaunched in the near future,” Cr Wilson said.

On the face of it, perhaps this is rather a sad outcome. On the other hand, it would be interesting to evaluate just how ‘eco-friendly’ such a venture really might be, considering the recycling process would likely be very energy intensive. Perhaps burying the shit really is the most sensible solution.