Disposable nappies.
Pauli Strom in Sweden made the first mention of the disposable nappy in 1942. The early disposable nappies were made of many layers of tissue paper, and were able to hold about 100cc of urine, which is approximately one wetting. It was designed to be used on occasion, but has developed into a full-time use nappy, capable of holding 400-500cc of urine. In the 1960s, fluffed wood pulp was used for the absorbent core, and the disposable nappy 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 nappy market disposables currently hold today.
Disposable nappies have overtaken the cloth nappy market and put many nappy services out of business due to their convenience and relatively small bulk on the baby. Between 18-23 billion disposable nappies were sold in the US in 2004.1
How they are made.
Modern disposable nappies 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 nappies 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 for disposable nappies are many, varied and sometimes quite complex. It is fair to say they take a great deal of processing and create many environmental burdens. Some disposables are able to slightly lessen the burden by using unbleached wood pulp, for instance or by sourcing it from sustainably managed forests. But for the most part, the environmental issue with disposables is the plastic used to make them waterproof. On the production front it takes an estimated 1/3 cup of crude oil per disposable nappy to make that plastic layer. And after only a couple of hours in use it gets discarded where it sits and sits in a landfill site.
How they are used.
Disposables are a single use product. They are convenient and easy to use. They are sold everywhere. They are typically very thin and lightweight. And they tend to perform well enough in regards to containing waste. In our fast-paced society this all adds up to a high appeal for busy parents.
Because disposable nappies wick moisture away from the child's body, children tend not to realize they are wet, which may be the reason that disposable nappy-wearing children tend to toilet train at a later age than those in cloth nappies.2 As a result, these children may require as many as 8,000 changes in their nappying period, compared to 5-6,000 (or less) for cloth-nappyed children.
How they are disposed.
There is only one thing to do with a disposable nappy once soiled: bin it. That means every one of the 18-23 billion nappies sold annually goes directly into a rubbish heap somewhere in America. That’s a staggering 3.5 million tons of poo and plastic going into the ground … each year. It’s no wonder disposable nappies 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 landfill sites for many years – reports estimate up to 500 years.4
Landfill sites themselves are neither simple, nor cheap nor environmentally safe. The most obvious and well-known advantage of recycling is that it leads to less garbage being buried in landfill sites, but you can’t recycle a disposable nappy. Environmental problems are the major reason more than 10,000 landfill sites 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 landfill sites. Ick.
Landfill sites generate hazardous and uncontrolled air emissions and also threaten surface and groundwater supplies. Landfill sites 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 landfill sites 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 nappies are thrown away 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. Parents should scrape any solid waste into the toilet before disposing of the nappy in the bin. But the reality is that this is rarely done, and baby poo heads for landfill sites along with the rest of the nappy, adding to an already toxic soup.
