Interesting Facts
The average baby will soil 6,000 nappies before he/she has been properly toilet trained. This amount of disposable nappies produces approximately 1,500 Kg of waste which takes 500 years to break down. Convenience need not cost the earth.
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Comparison with other products
These figures are quoted from or based on published statistics and National Consumer Magazine reports. |
Bleaching wood pulp to make the fluff pulp and paper for disposable nappies creates pollution. Chlorine bleaching creates toxic dioxins, but is used much less since WEN's 1989 campaign on the issue. Bleaching now uses different chlorine chemicals and dioxin levels are now as low as with totally chlorine-free bleaching.
Disposables contain several different kinds of plastic, made from non-renewable crude oil. More fossil fuel is used in the manufacturing process for plastics and paper, and so they use energy at this stage. Renewable energy from wood is also used. Most plastics are not biodegradable but even for truly biodegradable ones, landfill sites do not provide the right conditions. Even paper may persist for decades and if it does break down, methane, a potent greenhouse gas will be produced.
Paper pulp is a major constituent of the disposable. To supply this pulp, forests are being felled and old diverse forests are being replaced with mono-culture plantations, managed with pesticides and fertilizers. Many animal species are already at risk due to forestry practices.
The paper industry is a net emitter of greenhouse gases because young trees do not contain as much carbon dioxide as the mature trees they replace. Fuels and chemicals in the paper process add to carbon emissions and paper returns carbon dioxide to the environment as it biodegrades.