AN innovative nappy recycling service offered by Monmouthshire County Council is to stop with immediate effect, the authority has announced.

A spokesman for the council said that the nappies collected separately from over 1,000 households in the county will no longer be sent for recycling following the closure of the Knowaste facility in Birmingham

"Knowaste, the provider of an innovative technology in Birmingham which turned nappies back into plastic pellets and cardboard fibre, has closed its recycling centre to pursue the building of a bigger facility within the region," said an MCC spokesman.

"Councils were informed on May 21 that the plant was being shut with immediate effect.  For a short period the material will be sent to landfill. But we are  looking at whether environmentally and financially it would be more beneficial to send this waste for energy recovery."

Councillor Bryan Jones, Monmouthshire County Council's Cabinet Member for County Operations, said, "We are very disappointed that this has happened so suddenly. 

"We have had no warning from the company that this was a possibility.  Monmouthshire, with Cardiff, was the first Council in the UK to support this technology because it was innovative and far better than landfill.  We have to explore these innovative technologies otherwise progress would never be made. 

"This time unfortunately the initiative has not worked. But we will learn lessons and for our residents I can say with confidence that there will be no change to the service we are providing."

He added, "We are continuing to provide a separate collection of nappy waste whilst we review what options are available to us for the future. Any changes to the service will be advised to users well in advance."

"Knowaste have reported that they intend to invest in a larger facility within the region and MCC will follow with interest their developments."