Woosh, Borouge, BlueAlp Demonstrate Circular Pathway for Diaper Plastics

Working with Borouge International, a leader in polyolefin solutions, and BlueAlp, a leading chemical recycling player, Woosh, a Belgium-based circular diaper brand, has proven that plastics from used baby diapers can be recovered and chemically recycled into feedstock for new polymers for applications including those suitable for new diaper production. The development marks the first time this circular loop has been demonstrated at industrial scale in Europe, according to the companies.

Woosh is the maker of the give-back diaper, which is optimized for recycling. The company supplies this diaper to more than 30,000 children at households and daycare centers in Belgium. Afterwards, the company collects them to be recycled at its diaper recycling plant, launched in 2025 in Belgium. Already, this model has processed thousands of metric tons of used diapers per year and is set to expand into France and the Netherlands in the near future.

Borouge International and BlueAlp have worked with Woosh engineers to define what quality requirements the recovered plastic needed to meet to allow them to be used as input for BlueAlp’s chemical recycling technology. The first industrial scale recycling runs were carried out at BlueAlp’s plant in Oostende, Belgium, and recovered plastic fractions were processed using BlueAlp’s pyrolysis technology, which converts them into a liquid hydrocarbon known as pyrolysis oil. This pyrolysis oil is ISCC PLUS-certified and meets the required quality specifications for further processing into new polymers.

“Chemically recycling the plastic from used diapers is anything but straightforward. It requires careful pre-processing to meet the specifications of the pyrolysis process,” says Peter Voortmans, Borealis Vice President Marketing Consumer Products. “Together with Woosh and BlueAlp, we’ve been able to solve this challenge, showing what’s possible when teams work closely together with a shared goal.”

“We have spent years building the collection network and the technology to make this possible,” says Jeff Stubbe, CEO Woosh. “To see the plastic we recover from used diapers validated as feedstock for new polymer production and potentially for new diapers in the future, is exactly what we set out to achieve. This is what closing the loop actually looks like.”