The Problem: Nappy’s, nappies and more nappies!

The health of our planet is more important than ever. Have you ever thought about what happens to your rubbish after the truck empties your curb-side bin?

If you’ve had small children, we bet it’s crossed your mind before; where are all these nappies actually going? And when you consider that the average baby is using the equivalent of 150kg of wood, you realise that nappies waste a lot of resources, which could serve the planet better.

It’s not just a household issue; hospitals and age care facilities also produce a lot of waste that goes straight to landfill.

Evashred and Evans Engineering team were approached by a passionate mother of two who decided to do something about the issue, instead of just wondering what happens to them.

This project got our team excited because we are in this business so that more waste is shredded and recycled so we all live on a cleaner planet Earth.

This project demanded the use of our many skills from our speciality CAD Design skills to find a solution all the way to our engineering skill and in-depth knowledge of material shredding to build, trial and commission that special nappy-shredding machine.

The Idea: Turn the waste into fertiliser!

The very first question we always want to answer is what to do with the waste. Yes, we can shred it, but what happens after? To answer this question, we have to be knowledgeable about a wide range of materials. Over the years we also built strong relationships with plants using all kinds of waste in NZ and overseas.

In the case of nappies, naturally the idea was to turn this kind of waste into fertiliser, just like it would occur in nature.

This solution was a great idea and as always required a fare volume of testing. So, we literally had to go through hundreds of nappies before the final shredder was created. This is a job not for the light hearted. Yet, Evashred’s team of dedicated professionals is happy to do whatever it takes to create a shredder that does the work necessary.

Watch this video of Neil testing the machine with real nappies. https://youtu.be/lcQ1LLSPoYc

After a few months of design, development and testing and just under 1000 used nappies shredded, the Evashred team created a shredding solution which turned nappy waste into fertiliser.

What Happens Next: No More Nappies on the Landfill

We supplied shredders and associated plant equipment for nappy waste products from aged care homes, and various collection points around NZ to be shredded and mixed with green waste and composted to turn into fertiliser for agriculture.

Collection bins were conveniently located around town, allowing households to deposit their nappy waste for collection. The collection bins could detect when they were full and would be emptied and taken to a facility to be processed.

The facility to process the waste required the nappies to be shredded and mixed with green waste at the same time. From there it was put through a composting vessel to slowly reduce and eliminate all the pathogens from within the waste product, and convert it to a neutral eco-friendly compost suitable to fertilise crops.

The team at Evans Engineering, manufacturers of the Evashred brand, feel incredibly accomplished that we contributed in such a big way to divert waste that would have taken forever to break down, and instead use it to nourish our planet.

We’d love the opportunity to talk to you about innovative shredding solutions. Or simply come to us to discuss a problem you may have, and we’ll see if we can help.