Disposables
Pauli Strom in Sweden made the first mention of the disposable diaper in 1942. The early disposable diapers were made of many layers of tissue paper, and were able to hold about 100cc of urine, which is approximately one wetting. Compare that to the 400-500cc of the modern disposable. In the 1960s, fluffed wood pulp was used for the absorbent core, and the disposable diaper became much more popular for the families who could afford them. With the addition of superabsorber crystals mixed with the wood pulp in the late 80s the disposable entered a new era, gradually increasing in popularity which has led to the 90-95% share of the diaper market disposables currently hold today.
Disposable diapers have overtaken the cloth diaper market and put many diaper services out of business due to their convenience and relatively small bulk on the baby. Between 18-23 billion disposable diapers were sold in the US in 2004.1
How they are made:
Modern disposable diapers generally consist of a waterproof exterior made from non-woven polypropylene or similar plastic, one or more moisture-wicking internal layers, and an absorbent inner core. In modern diapers this core is a combination of fluffed wood pulp and a dried hydrogel, or SAP (super absorbent polymer). SAP is a network of polymer chains, which can absorb more than 100 times their dry weight in liquid.
The manufacturing processes involved in the many components of a disposable diaper are many, varied and sometimes quite complex. The three main components are: plastics, fluffed wood pulp and SAP. It is fair to say they take a great deal of processing and create many environmental burdens. Some disposables are better than others in this sense, for example using unbleached wood pulp from sustainably managed forests. But for the most part, the environmental issue with disposables is the plastic used to make them waterproof.
How they are used:
Disposables are a single use product. They are convenient and easy to use. They are sold everywhere. The new generation of disposables are very thin and lightweight. They tend to perform well in regards to containing waste, which is why they have become so dominant in the market.
Because disposable diapers wick moisture away from the child's body, children tend not to realize they are wet, which may be the reason that disposable diaper-wearing children tend to toilet train at a later age than those in cloth diapers.2 As a result, these children may require as many as 8,000 changes in their diapering period, compared to 5-6,000 for cloth-diapered children.
How they are disposed:
There is only one thing to do with a disposable diaper once soiled: throw it out. That means every one of the 18-23 billion diapers sold annually goes directly into a landfill somewhere in America. That’s a staggering 3.5 million tons of poop and plastic going into the ground…each year. It’s no wonder disposable diapers are the 3rd largest single consumer item in our waste system.3
Due to the use of high-grade polypropylene used to make the outer covering and various layers, their materials remain intact in landfills for many years – reports estimate up to 500 years.4
Landfills themselves are neither simple, cheap nor environmentally safe. The most obvious and well-known advantage of recycling is that it leads to less garbage being buried in landfills, and environmental problems are the major reason more than 10,000 landfills have closed in the United States in the past fifteen years. Among the listed Superfund sites, the nation's most hazardous and contaminated locations, more than 20 percent are former municipal landfills.
Landfills generate hazardous and uncontrolled air emissions and also threaten surface and groundwater supplies. Landfills have contaminated aquifer drinking water supplies, wetlands, and streams throughout the United States – indeed, throughout the world – and many continue to do so. The list of toxic and hazardous chemicals emitted as gas or leaching as liquid from thousands of landfills defines a waste management option with wide-ranging pollution impacts. Among these documented pollutants are cyanide, dioxins, mercury, volatile organic compounds, methane and non-methane organic compounds, greenhouse gases, hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, lead, and many others.
5 So much bad news!
When disposable diapers are deposited in landfills they should not contain fecal matter, as it is a health and environmental danger, carrying human pathogens and increasing the risk of the spread of disease. That’s why one should scrape any solid waste into the toilet before disposing of the diaper in the trash. But the reality is that this is rarely done, and baby poop heads for the landfill along with the rest of the diaper, adding to an already toxic soup.
