Kickstart: Reclaiming some dirty energy

Babies use a lot of diapers. I'm not blaming them, just stating a fact. And diapers take up a lot of space in landfills.

Now a pilot program in Boston is looking at the potential to convert some of that diaper waste into energy.

Kimberly-Clark Corp., the owner of the Huggies brand of disposable diapers, is working with Bright Horizons child care centers in Boston to collect used diapers and wipes and ship them to Covanta Holding Corp. to be used in a waste-to-energy program.

There have been multiple programs to recycle post-industrial scrap from diaper production, but obviously no one is sorting through used diapers to reclaim film and nonwoven plastics. Waste-to-energy programs — while not the circular economy gold standard — would at least reduce landfill waste.

"Huggies is passionate about providing innovative solutions," Matt Barresi, North American vice president of the Huggies brand, said in a news release. "Whether it's [diaper containment improvements, thicker wipes] or a solution to help keep diapers and wipes out of landfills, we're proud to partner on this breakthrough program to help create a more sustainable environment."

If the pilot proves successful, Kimberly-Clark and Bright Horizons "will look to potentially expand the pilot in other major metro cities."

Big companies have been bragging about their scope lately. Not the scope of their business wins, but their focus on reducing Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions. Berry Global Group Inc., for instance, just noted in its new sustainability report that it is two years ahead of schedule in its efforts to cut emissions, Plastics News' Jim Johnson writes.

Scope 1 represents direct emissions from company operations, and Scope 2 typically refers to emissions from energy use. Scope 3 expands the focus to emissions indirectly related to a company, such as emissions associated with a supplier.

It's that next move that will push the carbon reduction work down the supply chain, adding more work to smaller companies with limited resources, suppliers with the auto industry's MEMA noted.

Our sister paper Automotive News writes that 53 percent of suppliers said they do not have a dedicated sustainability manager. MEMA estimates that work "demands the equivalent of 4.5 full-time staff" and is asking automakers to unify its standards to ease the process.

Covestro has added solar panels to one of its plants in China in a move that both allows it to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels for energy and prove its materials are a better choice for solar arrays.

The plant in Shanghai added 30,000 square meters of solar panels that will generate 6 million kilowatts per year in energy, the materials supplier said. Those panels have polyurethane composite frames, using Covestro's Baydur-brand resin, which has a smaller carbon footprint than traditional aluminum structures.

The array will provide "only a fraction" of the site's power consumption, our sister paper Urethanes Technology International writes, but Covestro officials said it also sends a message that it wants to "contribute to the circular economy with the materials we produce."