Diapers in the Landfill

Each year, recycling centers across the nation have to discard disposable diapers into the landfill that people put in with their recycling. Disposable diapers are not only not recyclable, they shouldn’t be put into the landfill….or on your baby for that matter.

It is estimated that 90-95% of babies in the United States wear disposable diapers for approximately 2-21/2 years. “The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports that about 20 billion disposable diapers are dumped in landfills each year, accounting for more than 3.5 million tons of waste.”
Other agencies, however, put that number even higher, stating, “American babies use 27.4 billion single-use, plastic diapers every year. This generates 7.6 billion pounds of garbage each year—enough waste to fill Yankee Stadium 15 times over, or stretch to the moon and back 9 times.”

The way disposable baby diapers are manufactured, which makes them extremely lightweight, fitted, and ultra absorbent, also makes them an environmental nightmare.

Because the contents of landfills go through a process of being buried over, oxygen and sunlight aren’t as plentiful in its decomposition. It could take up to 500 years or more for disposable diapers to decompose in the landfill.

“The Good Human, a website dedicated to discussing issues related to environmentalism, points out that more than 200,000 trees each year are lost to the manufacture of disposable diapers for babies in the U.S. alone.

In addition, it takes 3.4 billion gallons of fuel oil every year to make diapers. What it comes down to is that disposable diapers use 20 times more raw materials, two times more water and three times more energy to make than cloth diapers. Besides depleting natural resources, manufacturing disposable diapers also utilizes non-renewable energy sources.”

Toxic chemicals in disposable diapers such as toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene and dipentene, and dioxin, among others, along with dyes are released into the soil, air and could leech into groundwater. Decomposing diapers also release methane into the air which is dangerous to breathe and can accumulate causing an explosion hazard.

The fine print on packages of disposable diapers state that all contents of the diapers should be flushed down the toilet before discarding it. This step prevents human waste from being put into the landfill, and thus creating other environmental issues. How many people, however, do you know of who skip this step? Probably most. After all, that is an inconvenient step which negates the purpose of using disposable diapers in the first place.

Good old fashioned cloth diapers seem to be the best option despite some drawbacks in convenience, but the environment is far better off now and in the long run.

For more information on waste and recycling visit www.wasteawaygroup.com.

Earth911.com
toxipedia.org
livestrong.com
smallfootprintfamily.com