The Glasgow company making nappies from plastic bottles

It is estimated that over 8 million nappies are thrown away every day, more than 3 billion each year. Disposable nappies are known to take over 500 years to decompose, making the product's eco-footprint deep and long lasting. While eco-disposable nappies are available, the same amount of energy and raw materials are used to produce them as their counterparts.

Based in Glasgow, Scotland, TotsBots is the first company in the world to make reusable nappies out of plastic bottles. At a time when environmental concern is growing rapidly, the news will be welcomed by parents wishing to reduce their environmental impact. 

The waterproof outer fabric was previously knitted using virgin polyester yarn. TotsBots have made this vital outer part that keeps the wetness in, from recycled polyester from plastic bottles. Each individual nappy will, on average, contain two bottles diverted from landfill. The new fabric has been especially developed for TotsBots and has been Oekotex 100 (class 1) certified meaning there are no harmful chemicals or residues. It is the highest certification for babies' garments.

TotsBots Director Fiona Smyth said, “We are so excited to be the first reusable nappy company in the world to be doing this. It gives parents an even better reason to choose cloth nappies over disposables now. With over 8 million nappies going to landfill every day, if even half of parents switched to cloth that would be a whole lot of plastic bottles and nappy waste being diverted from landfill. We really hope this will inspire other companies to follow suit. The technology is here and there is certainly enough plastic waste here so there is no reason why this shouldn’t become the norm.”

“Over the last 3 years we have seen a marked increase in parents opting for cloth nappies as their preferred choice for their babies; concerns about the environment, chemicals in disposables and guilt about over-consumption are behind this. Modern cloth nappies are not the terry squares and plastic pants of our grandparents’ days. They come in all shapes, colours and sizes and are so much easier to use than people fear. Parents are always amazed at how well they work and how easy they are,” she added.

Phasing in of the new recycled fabric has already begun and the company hopes to have switched completely by October 2019. A small recycled nappy logo will make the product easily identifiable. 

Employing 70 people in Glasgow, TotsBots products are sold worldwide.

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