Press ReleasesNippon Paper Industries Offers Technical Assistance to the Fukuoka Urban Area
Disposable Diaper Recycling System Examination Committeeto Create the First Urban Disposable Diaper Recycling System in Japan
- Aims to Reduce Growing Burden of Disposable Diaper Disposal -

Nippon Paper Industries Co., Ltd.

Nippon Paper Industries Co., Ltd. (the "Company", President: Yoshio Haga) has joined the Fukuoka Urban Area Disposable Diaper Recycling System Examination Committee, launched in fiscal 2013 by the Fukuoka Prefectural Government and 17 municipalities in the Fukuoka urban area. By joining this Committee, the Company will provide technological assistance to the effort to create a new recycling system in collaboration with Total Care System Co., Ltd., a company engaged in dissolving used disposable diapers in a special solution, with the aim of facilitating the development of a recycling-oriented society.

Demand for disposable diapers, particularly those used by adults, is expanding in Japan with the increase in its elderly population. Disposable diaper production in Japan reached approximately 6,288 million units in 2012, about 2.6 times higher than the production volume for these products 10 years ago (according to a study conducted by the Japan Hygiene Products Industry Association).

At the same time, the ratio of used disposable diapers to the general garbage collected by municipalities is also increasing. Many municipalities are finding garbage disposal methods, such as incineration and landfill, to be a growing burden. The situation has created the need for nationwide initiatives to solve this problem.

In the Nippon Paper Group, Nippon Paper Crecia Co., Ltd. (President: Yasunori Nanri) is offering sanitary products in response to public demand, including the manufacture and sale of disposable diapers for adults. Through its latest technological assistance initiative, the Company aims to establish technologies to reduce cost, improve the quality and practical use of recycled pulp, and move toward a recycling-oriented society in which people can live with peace of mind. By developing a system to recycle used disposable diapers, the Company is taking advantage of used paper disposal and the related technologies it has cultivated through its long track record in the papermaking business.