Asda has joined forces with eco-friendly baby brand Pura to help to tackle the issue of plastic waste, by producing the UK’s first in-store signage using recycled nappies.
The signs which will be used on shelving selling Pura products in 320 stores, replaces plastic shelving.
It’s estimated that the equivalent of 7,220 used nappies were recycled to make the signage, approximately seven nappies per sign. Once the nappies are shredded, washed and dried, they are processed into pellets and then combined with other raw materials and pressed into boards. The Asda boards are made from 56% recycled nappy fibre and 44% cellulose fibre from other responsible sources.
The drive to create less plastic in stores comes after Pura, supported by Asda, launched England’s first nappy recycling trial in Bristol. The trial meant that tens of thousands of nappies avoided landfill and instead were turned into useful materials such as road surfaces notice boards, panelling, insulation under laminate flooring and other insulation, as well as the new in-store signage.
Through Pura’s partnership with NappiCycle the equivalent of 40 million used nappies avoid landfill annually and are repurposed for useful items, such as the in-store signage. At the end of their on-shelf life, the signage can be put back into the nappy recycling process, with all the fibre and other components are recovered, to be recycled again.
Pura’s Sustainability Director Matt Moreland said: “We hope that the POS material will help spread awareness of the benefits of nappy recycling which can prevent millions of tonnes of valuable resource from nappies, hygiene products and period products from ending up in landfill or being incinerated.”
Asda Buying Manager for nappies, Jessica Carrol, added: “We know how important it is to our customers that we reduce the amount of plastic we use, so we were extremely keen to work with Pura on this project. We will continue to look at other ways we can utilise nappy recycling and continue to work with all our suppliers on ways we can reduce our plastic use.”
