Where does it all end up?

download this page

The effect of the disposable baby diaper on the environment

A child uses approximately 5,850 disposable diapers (nappies) from birth to the end of potty training. This means that one million tonnes of used diapers (nappies) are thrown away every year. It takes approximately 500 years for a diaper to break down into tiny pieces in a landfill site. This breaking down into small pieces is called Degrade and is very different to the process where things Biodegrade.

If you leave food out of the fridge for a short amount of time, it will start to rot. Out in the garden, in the soil or on a compost heap, the end result of that rotting would not be seen or even distinguished from the soil where it lay. This is because the vegetable matter is biodegradable. It breaks down into the same particles that the soil is made up of. Synthetic materials such as plastic, polypropylene, and polyethylene are manufactured materials produced from petroleum, and they can never biodegrade. The materials stay in our environment forever, even if they break down into tiny pieces after hundreds of years, they will still be there to measure and pollute the soil.

Over 40% of a disposable diaper (nappy) is made from plastic; the rest is made from chlorine-bleached wood pulp, not to mention the additional plastic in the bag that they are sold in. If you consider the impact on the environment of producing the pulp, which includes chopping down huge forests to source the wood, and then the chlorine bleaching of that pulp to end up with the material that fills out the diaper, is the use of plastic a burden too many on the environment?

Now we have training diapers and nighttime bed wetting pants to add to the burden, what can we do to protect our environment now?

If plastic is burnt in an incinerator, it will release dioxin into the air that we all need to breath, and will eventually go on to also pollute the water we need to drink and the soil that we depend on to grow our food.

There are many products that are made from the same materials as diapers, including sanitary pads; all ending up in massive landfill sites. The answer must be to use only biodegradable plastics made from plant material that will biodegrade after a short time once in the soil. These materials are available and are easy to use in place of these widely used, indestructible plastics. Take a look around and see if you can count how many items you use every day that are made from plastic, or are wrapped in plastic, and try to image the pile of rubbish they will eventually create.