Recent technologies for treatment and recycling of used disposable baby diapers

•Characteristic of diaper types and current status of diapers industry.•How disposable diaper is made- an environmental concern.•Case studies of diaper management methods in developing country were discussed.•Safer and cleaner technology breakthrough in via biodegradation and thermal pyrolysis.•Challenges and future prospect in recycling diaper management. The disposal of used diapers is a critical eco-technological problem aggravated by the exponential increase of global consumption rate each year. The global production of disposable used diapers increases exponentially and is expected to exceed US$ 71 billion/year by 2022. It was revealed that about 20 billion pieces of the used diapers were dumped in landfills yearly, generating more than 3.5 million tonnes of diaper waste that require almost 500 years to be fully decomposed. The resource-consuming production and disposal of used diaper waste have led to many environmental issues and poses a threat to public health. This review provides an in-depth discussion of the challenges, strategies, and the recent breakthrough in rectifying problems arising from generation and disposal of used diapers. The use of various technologies for treatment and recycling of used diaper were highlighted, particularly on the use of potentially safer and cleaner technologies such as biodegradation and thermal pyrolysis in maximizing the recycling of used diapers with minimal cost. It was established that useful end products that have wide applications can be obtained through biodegradation and pyrolysis of used diapers, hence providing a future research direction to enhance the efficiency of these process in recycling of used diaper.