The councils of Monmouthshire and Cardiff are to joint the list of the first local authorities in Britain to send nappies to recycling.

These councils will collect disposable nappies, as well as other absorbent hygiene products, from 2,500 households. Over a trial period of six months, the waste is to be sent to West Bromwich’s Knowaste Absorbent Hygiene Products Plant.

In the past, around 200m disposable nappies per year have been thrown away by parents in Wales, as alleged by Waste Awareness Wales – a promoter of green issues. Sterilising materials before they recover plastics for re-use, Knowaste Ltd said that the trial represents true progress being made.

Separately, Cardiff and Monmouthshire councils have ran, and continue to run, their separate AHP waste collections. Any materials gathered will be sent to West Bromwich from now on and the plant there is the first in Britain to treat AHPs while claiming that it can recycle 95 per cent of all material  received.

Georgina Taubman, of Waste Awareness Wales, the national consumer campaign outfit funded by Wales’ government, said that a potty-trained baby uses around 5,000 nappies from birth onwards until they are no longer required. This is the equivalent of 150 black sacks of waste.

Ms Taubman said that Cardiff and Monmouthshire now trialling the recycling of nappies comes as welcome news to her organisation and marks a great first step being made towards the reduction of the current amount of nappy waste being sent to landfill.