US-based diaper subscription company Dyper partnered with recycling brand TerraCycle to launch its ReDyper program. Dyper sends subscribers compostable bamboo diapers, free from ingredients like chlorine and latex that are harmful to the environment. This new component launched in February, so customers can send back soiled diapers using the provided bags, Haz Mat-approved boxes, and a prepaid shipping label. TerraCycle and its partners then turn the diapers into compost for public landscaping in places like highway medians.
Watch the video and you may have a *record scratch* reaction watching daddy happily box up used diapers to mail to someone. Yet today’s eco-conscious parents face a very real sense of guilt at the sheer volume of landfill their little angels generate. This innovation tackles that point of tension perfectly! Here are two takeaways:
ECO-CYCLE. We love innovations that give waste a second life. The ReDyper program doesn’t just collect soiled diapers, it turns them into compost for public areas. Similarly, Singapore’s contact lens brand Two of a Kind recently launched a program to recycle contact lens blister packs (from any brand) into pellets for new products. And don’t forget the power of the right partner. Brazil’s Natura partnered with Heineken to recycle 2.5 million plastic cups from the Rock in Rio music festival into cosmetics packaging. We’ve asked you this before, but it’s worth repeating. Which part of your industry’s products end up in landfill? What steps must you take (from production to collection) to repurpose that waste?
LIFE:SUBSCRIBED. Consumers will always embrace products and services that make their lives easier, hence the continued potential subscription economy. While some subscription services are not exactly eco-friendly due to an excess of packaging, Dyper delivers compostable bamboo diapers in oxo-degradable packaging, and purchases offsets for its carbon emissions. In August 2019, UpChoose launched in the US as a circular solution for baby clothes. Parents rent one size of organic baby clothes and send them back to receive a discount on the next size. This saves parents time and money, and also drastically reduces the clothing waste associated with a child’s first few years. In developing or evaluating your subscription service, aim for the knock-out combo of easier and greener!
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