Facts – About Disposables
According to certain recent studies…
World wide, a billion trees are annually cut down to make disposable diapers
Globalization encourages disposable products over reusable options
2 billion disposable diapers go to waste in Canada each year. That’s 250,000 tons of waste buried in sanitary landfills
Quebec throws away 600 million disposable diapers each year. All these diapers put end to end would cover the distance around the Earth 6 times over
300 to 500 years are necessary for a disposable diaper to decompose
Over 100 viruses can survive for a two-week period in a disposable diaper thus contaminating the ground and water surrounding the sanitary landfills
The sodium polyacrylate is an element used in the disposable diaper to make them extra absorbent. It is the same substance, which was removed from tampons in 1985 because it was discovered that there was a link with the toxic shock syndrome
No study was done on the long-term effects of the sodium polyacrylate, a chemical substance that is in constant contact with the reproductive organs of the babies, 24 hours a day, usually for more than two years.
We make choices in everything we buy. Virtually every product we purchase has some impact on the environment. We need to determine which alternatives are less harmful and choose to use these products and practices whenever possible.
The cumulative effect of all our seemingly insignificant choices has led us to our "drawing on the capital" rather than "living off the interest" of our earth’s resources. Disposable diapers represent one of many common choices in our society that needs to be re-evaluated in the light of environmental concerns e.g.
Do we drive to the park or ride our bikes? Do we take juice boxes or a jug of water? Do we put the clothes in the dryer or hang them out to dry.
From birth to toilet training, each child will use approximately 5,300 disposable diapers. It takes 440-880 lbs. of fluff pulp and 286 lbs. of plastic (including packaging) per year to supply a single baby with disposables. They are the third largest single product in the waste stream behind newspapers and beverage containers. In areas where paper, glass, tin cans etc. are collected for recycling, diapers make up an even larger portion of the garbage.
Landfill sites do not provide the conditions necessary for diapers to decompose. They are in effect "mummified" and retain their original weight volume and form. Human feces can contain harmful pathogens (for example, babies who have been vaccinated for polio will excrete poliovirus) when feces are discarded with disposable diapers, there is potential for public exposure (via rodents, pets, flies or birds).
Single use disposable diapers use 37% more water than home laundered.
Disposables appear to produce less sewage because in them, human waste goes to dump sites. This practice violates World Health Organization guidelines and is technically illegal. Washing cloth diapers at home uses 50-70 gal. of water every three days. For perspective, a toilet-trained person, flushing the toilet 5-6 times a day, also uses 70 gal. of water every three days. Wastewater from washing cloth diapers is relatively benign while the wastewater from pulp, paper and plastics contain solvents, sludge, heavy metals, unreacted polymers, dioxins and furans. The potential environmental impacts of the disposal of these materials are considerable. Although cloth diaper use also emits air pollution, the air pollution from the manufacture of disposables is far more noxious. Pulp bleaching emits dioxins and furans into the air, as does incineration. Incineration often produces toxic air emissions and toxic ash.
In Canada and the US >20,000,000,000 disposables are discarded into landfill sites each year!
Being informed and including environmental considerations into our decision-making is essential to preserving a healthy earth for future generations.
