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A
diaper's environmental pollution
And
what you can do to reduce your baby's environmental impact
Your baby needs diapers, no
getting around it. Please allow
carbon-balanced-baby.org to state here that we do not blame babies or
their
parents for the environmental damage that raising children creates.
Although this
impact is significant, we feel that raising healthy children is perhaps
the
most important responsibility a parent has. Of all the garbage in the
landfills
and of all humanity’s water use, we think it fairly safe to say that
this use
of our resources, for the care of children, is both necessary and
important. Responsible
use, that is, for we also believe it is imperative for
parents to take the proper
steps to reduce their family’s impact on the
carbon cycle. Our goal at carbon-balanced-baby.org is to provide
resources, ideas and
options for parents to reduce, offset and balance their baby’s carbon
footprint.
That
being said; lets discuss…
The
impact of diapers on the ecosystem
We’ll
deal with the three main
ways diapers effect our environment: the production of
diapers, disposal of diapers
and water usage and pollution.
Diaper
production: what does it take to make them?
Disposable
nappies are made of
several elements, and if you’re a seasoned mother you know what they
look like
torn apart. There are basically three “layers”.
- The
outer layer: which is often printed with dancing
characters for the child’s
delight, is a polyethylene film or a “nonvoven and film composite” or,
as in
the case with “bio friendly” diapers, a more biodegradable nonwoven
film. These
wonders of modern technology prevent moisture and soil transfer from
within the
diaper to without.
- The middle,
absorbent, layer:
You may have seen these, they look like little beads when dry
and a gelatinous gel when wet. This is the absorbent material whose
function is
to absorb and hold urine and moisture. It is made from a mixture of
cellulose
pulp and super absorbent polymers. Although there are no documented
cases of children being hurt by these compounds, a debate still
swirls about their health risks.
- The
inner layer: Another wonder of modern technology! This
nonwoven material
transfers urine and moisture away from the baby’s skin and into the
absorbent,
middle layer. It also has a second layer which distributes liquids more
evenly
across the middle layer.
The
production
of reusable, cotton nappies
does not have the same type of environmental impact that
production of disposable diapers has. They do, however,
create
considerable carbon emission in their production process
through
harvesting, transportation, weaving ,
dyeing,
etc. There is much debate about which
diaper type,
disposable or reusable, is easier on
the
ecosystem. Carbon-balanced-baby.org is
dedicated to
providing you with enough information and resources to make
that
decision yourself.
The
environmental cost
of producing disposable diapers
To
create this
modern wonder of technology (since about 1961) and make it available to
mothers
and babies everywhere, we use a lot of oil, trees and plastics. Through
this production process we create films, polymers and gels that take a
very,
very long time to decompose. Some basic statistics:
- It
takes over 10
full sized trees to produce the number of diapers your baby will use in
its
first few years. Studies say that over
250,000 trees per year are felled to
satisfy the USA's disposable diaper demand.
- Production
of a single
disposable diaper requires 2/3 of a cup of petroleum. This adds up to
over 3
billion gallons of oil (per year!) dedicated to disposable
diaper production.
- Every
year 82,000 tons of
plastic is concocted and spun with combinations of
the above ingredients to create the high-tech, breathable films which
keep our
baby and home comfortable. This production process burns through energy
and creates
hazardous by-products.
The
process
alone to produce disposable diapers creates significant quantities of
greenhouse emissions which can last for decades. Now let’s discuss what
happens
when we throw them away…
Disposable diapers in
our landfills
All
of those
soiled diapers (over 16 billion per year) have to go somewhere. After
you throw
them in your trash, and your husband (if you’re lucky) hauls those
smelly
garbage cans to the curb, and after the waste disposal truck hauls them
away,
what happens? What about the biological hazard of all that feces and
urine, and
the virus and disease they may carry, will they end up in the water
supplies?
Why is this a problematic current environmental issue? Good questions,
so let’s take a look…
- In
the United
States
alone, 16
billion
soiled diapers are deposited into landfills every year.
The weight of this mess
is over 3.5 billion pounds.
- According
to studies it can take from
200
to 500
years for these diapers to decompose. “Biodegradable”
diapers don’t
fare much
better because although some elements of the diaper do degrade faster,
many of the core
elements which make it mother and baby friendly (i.e. the absorbent
materials
and polymer linings) are made of the same materials as standard
disposables.
- The
nasty goop that pools at the bottom of a landfill, which
is a place you
probably do not want to visit, is called “leachate”. It is possible
that
viruses excreted in human feces could end up in the leachate and,
particularly
in older landfill sites,
could leak into local water supplies. In
most places it is illegal to dump human bodily wastes into a landfill.
Diapers
are generally excluded from enforcement of this rule.
- Diapers are
the
third most common item, by volume and weight, in
American, UK,
European, Japanese and Australian landfills.
- In
developing countries the
problem is
particularly bad as they generally do not have modern
landfill technologies
installed or available. This is a global environmental problem.
So, what
are the effects of this
environmental damage? The world’s landfills are widely
documented as major
sources of
greenhouse gas emissions. The methane released through
garbage and diaper
decomposition is a prominent factor in the possibility of future climate
alteration.
It is our responsibility, as mothers and fathers, to take the necessary
steps to reduce, offset and balance our children's effect on the
ecosystem and global warming.
How can
you reduce,
offset and balance your baby’s carbon footprint?
Click here
to find out!
Click here for great
ideas on eco
friendly diapers and products!
Click here for simple,
practical diapering
tips that reduce carbon emissions!
How can you offset your
diapers environmental pollution? Click here!
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