What a Waste

Have you wondered about bioplastics? Article by the Plastic Pollution Coalition’s Manuel Maqueda in the Earth Island Institute’s Earth Island Reports weighs what bioplastics may or may not mean.

The point, of course, is that reuse makes more sense than throwing away plastics no matter what the source of the materials. Throw away doesn’t mean go away.

“The Bioplastic Labyrinth”

I’ve been watching with interest as the Pampers Dry Max public relations fiasco unfolds.

The story has been developing for weeks among parents, but it has hit mainstream media more recently. Parents report serious rashes when using Dry Max diapers. The problem is so bad that the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is investigating complaints, and parents are submitting their stories of rashes and blisters when using Pampers Dry Max diapers.

In the past year, Procter & Gamble has been excitedly spreading the word to their retailers in that they had a development that would change the way stores use shelf space. A diaper revolution, was the word going around.

The product they introduced was Pampers Dry Max. Most disposable diapers include not only superabsorbent polymers (SAP, the blue beads that absorb urine—you may have seen them on your baby’s bottom if you’ve used disposable diapers*), but they also include naturally absorbent materials such as wood pulp or cotton. All of this is packed into a tight and tidy plastic wrap that covers a baby’s bottom for 12 hours or so. The innovation with the new product was to remove the naturally absorbent materials and just pack the plastic wrap with plastic SAP.

Cutting out the cotton and wood pulp makes a thinner diaper. This was their response to the nasty truth about disposable diapers constituting such a large proportion of the garbage that is hauled away from curbs every week. This is “2x drier & 20% thinner” than competitor Kimberly-Clark’s products, so they can pick off users who are willing to make minor changes but aren’t looking for real changes. (If you are looking for a real diaper change, you know where to look.)

When “Modern” Means Untested

The whole idea of “modern diapers,” whether people are talking about throwaway diapers or reusable diapers, just amuses me. This phrase plays on parents’ fears of not knowing the latest, even when the latest is untested and can cause health or other issues for their children. Even the simplest, most old-fashioned flat cloth diaper does the job beautifully, and flat and prefold diapers are so easy to care for. I don’t quite understand what people think they gain by “modern” in the context of diapers.

All of this because a major manufacturer of throwaway diapers recognizes the solid waste problem they have created over the past 30-60 years.

The answer isn’t more chemicals on babies’ skin. The answer is a return to the tried and true. Cloth diapers just work.

What Is the Issue Again?

What is the current issue with these diapers? Is it really public relations? You would think so to read business articles.

I’m waiting for a P&G executive to say that because they care about the health of babies they will investigate every claim. Wouldn’t that send a stronger message to their young mother demographic than saying stories are “completely false” then accusing mothers who have seen their babies develop terrible rashes of spreading “false rumors”?

*“It is perfectly normal to see some gel on the skin from time to time.” “Diaper Gel Facts,” pampers.com

Since the explosion of an oil rig off the coast of Louisiana two weeks ago, there have been intense conversations about potential impacts of the oil spill on life in the Gulf of Mexico and livelihoods along the coast. The conversations about energy have expanded to acknowledge costs that are often hidden. Now, it looks like we may even see those previously externalized costs included in the equation when we talk about energy.

Energy.

When we talk about oil and gas, we also need to bring into the conversation those products made from from oil and gas.

So, let’s talk about throwaway plastic diapers. Plastic is made from oil and gas. Any discussion of the total impact of disposable diapers must consider the impact of the external costs, including oil exploration and the occasional massive disaster.

100+ images of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill from Huffington Post

This oil spill is one of the external costs of disposable diapers and other plastic products.

When you see a massive oil slick, ask yourself whether the choice to throw away plastic underwear is worth this. I don’t think so.

According to the EPA’s most recent municipal waste report (2008), 2.3% by weight of products discarded in the municipal waste stream are disposable diapers.  That means that out of 166,740,000 tons or 333,480,000,000 pounds of trash, disposable diapers accounted for 3,790,000 tons or 7,580,000,000 pounds of non-recovered, toss-it-in-the-landfill trash in 2008.

The percentage of trash from diapers has gone up every year and continues to go up.  With increasing population, one could understand how raw numbers go up, but this is percentage going up.  As we figure out how to reduce and reuse, unless we also reduce the use of disposable diapers, that number will continue to go up.  In Europe, where there is considerably more recycling and less discarding of durable goods, disposable diapers make up 15% of trash.  The better we are at reducing, the more glaring disposable diapers become in the numbers.

Why do we put up with this? Why is this outrageous percentage of unnecessary waste normalized in our culture?  It is normalized and excused as people forget that there are better options.  Real diapers don’t cause waste.

7.6 billion pounds of diapers a year discarded in the U.S.

That’s about the weight of a billion newborn babies.