Disposable Diapers and The Environment

1

• the affects

• disposable diapers

• have on the

• environment

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Effect on Landfills

• Cost 50M to public
• Capacity 84 billion pounds of fecal matter
• Contamination Over 100 viruses
• Public Exposure
• Human
• Animals
• Aqueduct

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According to the Journal of Pediatrics

• 54 of one-month old babies using disposable
  diapers had rashes. THAT IS MORE THAN HALF!!! Of
  those 16 were severe rashes.

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• Negative Effects
• of Disposable Diapers
• Many parents simply toss disposable diapers into
  roadside trash. This adds 84 million lbs. of raw
  sewage into the landfill.
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
• 3.3 million tons of disposable diapers were sent
  to landfills in 2000.

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• Were dumping almost 7 billion lbs of diapers
  onto our landfill each year. Thats the weight of
  more than 8,000 fully fueled, fully loaded 747s

• Would you put a trash bag
• on your baby?

• Single use diapers are just another name for
  fancy trash bags with linings

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• Positive Effects
• Disposable diapers account for
• less than 2 of the waste that goes into
  landfills.
• In the past five years Huggies has reduced the
  volume of waste by 50, largely through the use
  of super absorbent materials.

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Negative Effectsof Cloth Diapers

• Washing cloth diapers at home uses 50 to 70
  gallons of water every three days
• Washing cloth diapers adds chemicals into
  wastewater such as chlorine bleach

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Positive Effects

• Washing a load of clothes 1-2 times a week is the
  same as an adult flushing the toilet 5 times a
  day
• Potty training is faster when a child has been
  use to wearing a cloth diaper

• Less diaper rashes
• Cloth diapers keeps the child cooler
• Cloth diapers provided by service cost about 12
  cents per diaper, if you were to wash your own
  diapers the cost is about 3 cents per diaper

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SOLUTIONS

• Well designed landfills can be a tool for
  recycling, rather than tombs that harbor trash
  for generations to come
• Knowing how and what materials degrade will help
  toward making landfills better garbage eating
  machine

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Hams Study ResultsDiapers

• Florida 65 to 75 Decomposed after 2
  years
• Wisconsin 12 to 56 Decomposed after 6
  years

www.engr.wisc.edu/alumni
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Reason for Difference

• Clay Caps
• Florida - No
• Wisconsin - Yes

What Effect Clay Caps Has On the Landfills

• It Seals Landfills from the Elements

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Construction of Waste-to-Energy Plants

• Diapers are reduced to ash only 6 goes
  into the landfill
• Produces electricity (RDF) or Refuse Derived Fuel
  
• Destroys any Dangerous Viruses Bacteria

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