The annual production of disposable diapers in Japan amounts to about 23.5 billion sheets, which is the total for 2018 including infants and adults. In the background of future increase of the elderly population, further increases in the production are expected. Most of used disposable diapers are incinerated and recycled in some areas, but closed recycling has not yet been implemented. Therefore, a new technology has been developed to circulate used disposable diapers using recycled pulps and Superabsorbent Polymer (SAP) as raw materials. Recycled pulps have been confirmed to meet the same quality as virgin pulps. The environmental impact was assessed using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method, which found an 88% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
