Could nappies be the answer to potholes? Businessman turns 110,000 old nappies into 1.4 miles of drivable road

A businessman is turning old nappies into drivable roads.

Sustainable nappy business Pura, founded by Guy Fennell, is aiming to take 3 billion nappies out of landfill and do something good for the planet. Pura is turning nappies into asphalt - with the company having helped turn 110,000 of its recycled nappies into a road in Wales, stretching over 1.4 miles.

Mr Fennell says the recycling scheme, Pura NappiCycle, saved 45 million nappies from landfill in Wales in 2023. He also explained that the company is working on other ways to utilise nappy waste. For example, using it to resurface car parks. Pura plans to bring its nappy recycling scheme to Bristol.

Recycled nappies mixed with asphalt is reportedly a more durable material than materials used for previous roads and there will likely be less potholes over time. 

Mr Fennell said: “It's a curb side nappy recycling scheme in Wales and every two weeks, the local authorities pick that waste up from that household and deliver that waste to us. We then turn that waste into asphalt which goes into tarmac roads.

“There’s currently no nappy recycling happening in England, so we’re funding a nappy recycling scheme in Bristol. We pick up the waste every two weeks from households in Bristol and we've said that we will recycle 1 million nappies. They could be our competitors' nappies, we don't care, we just want to recycle them.”