A public-private partnership based in Japan has created the world’s first toilet paper made from recycled materials including used diapers. The recycled toilet paper is currently available in seven stores in Kagoshima and Miyazaki in southwest Japan.
 
The project was spearheaded by the city of Shibushi and the town of Osaki in Kagoshima in collaboration with Unicharm, a maker of diapers and other hygiene items, and toilet paper manufacturer Poppy Paper. The municipalities began recycling disposable diapers in April 2024 by separating them from other types of trash during collection. By September, the program had collected 98 metric tons of hygiene items including urine pads and wet wipes to repurpose into toilet paper.
 
The recycling process, developed by Unicharm, starts with sterilizing, deodorizing and bleaching the collected materials to make them resemble new pulp. The treated materials are then sent to Poppy Paper’s Fukuyo plant where they are mixed with small amounts of recycled paper to create toilet paper. The company produced approximately 30,000 toilet paper rolls—which are branded as the Shibushi Osaki Roll—in a two-month period. 
 
“This initiative could help diversify the ways to secure raw materials, especially as used paper supplies are expected to decline with the rise of paperless systems and a shrinking population,” says Satoshi Yoshida, from Poppy Paper’s sales department.