The recent economic crisis has got me thinking about consumption patterns. It seems that these days economies are built on industries that persuade people to buy things they don’t really need. New cars, soft drinks and fancy phones sell well when people have cash to spend. When the purse strings tighten, these non-essentials are the first things to be crossed off the shopping list.
Perhaps this economic hiccup is not altogether a bad thing, if it makes people prioritize and count their blessings. After a stroll through my local supermarket it was clear that things have changed here over the past eight years as the store widened its mandate. Now there are lots more things than food for people to spend their money on.
Most of these are innocuous, but I hesitate in front of all the products available now for babies and toddlers. A few years ago there was just one aisle dedicated to baby needs, mostly garments. These days over 6 aisles of goods cater to this niche market. It’s hard to watch proud young parents wasting their slender resources on items like baby formula and disposable diapers. People think it’s modern and cool to feed their babies formula instead of breast milk, when in fact it’s dangerous for the baby and prohibitively expensive for the parents if they buy the good stuff. (See ‘Spilling the Beans on Milk’ at www.baliadvertiser.biz/ articles/greenspeak 2007) There are now two full aisles of formula, with the most nourishing -- and therefore expensive -- ones under lock and key.
From an environmental standpoint, it’s pretty scary to see ordinary Indonesians putting single use diapers in their shopping carts. Indonesia has the fourth largest population in the world. Granted most of these folk won’t be buying disposable diapers any time soon, but even a small fraction of a big population base makes for an awful lot of dirty diapers.
Single use (disposable) diapers (SUDs) have been around since the 1960s, long enough to establish what they do the environment and infant health. World Watch estimates 450 billion disposable diapers are used each year and contribute nearly 77 million tons of waste (much of it untreated sewage) to landfills. In Indonesia, many landfills are uncontrolled and as we all know, a lot of household garbage just gets tossed over the riverbank. Though no one has been around long enough to prove it, a disposable diaper made out of plastics may take several hundred years to degrade.
Single use diapers have been a disaster for the environment. A billion trees are felled around the world each year to make the ‘fluff pulp’ in the absorbent layer of the diaper. It takes about 800 pounds of ‘fluff pulp’ and 280 pounds of plastic to diaper a baby in these diapers over 2 years, versus 22 pounds of cotton for cloth diapers. Each baby in single use diapers for two years uses 4.5 trees and generates between 1.5 and 2 tons of solid waste.
There are health issues, too. Babies wearing disposable diapers are exposed to polyethylene and a synthetic crystal called polyacrylate, the material found in tampons responsible for the sometimes fatal Toxic Shock Syndrome. These are just two of the questionable chemicals babies are exposed to in single use diapers, 24 hours a day for about 2 years. The US Consumer Products Safety Commission receives hundreds of complaints about babies with rashes and allergic reactions due to exposure to the plastics, chemicals and perfumes in SUDs. Even research by an American disposable diaper company revealed that their use increased diaper rash significantly. Parents also complain of skin irritation, vomiting, fever and staph infections attributed to the chemicals and plastic in these diapers. Wearing SUDs causes increased scrotal temperatures in baby boys, which is now being linked to decreased fertility in the so-called developed countries. Doctors report that baby girls whose parents use SUDs have more infections than those who use cloth diapers, because bacteria grows more quickly in the warm, humid environment of non-breathing plastic. Some studies also link the rising incidence of asthma with single use diapers.
What is the solution? Well, a number of companies have created ‘earth-friendly’ diapers, however some experts believe the idea of a biodegradable diaper isn’t a solution because many landfills aren’t conducive to fostering the decomposition process, which requires air. Inventors are working on a biodegradable diaper that will decompose under the conditions found in landfills. The Australian magazine Ecos reported that inventor Charishma Seneviratne has developed just such a diaper. Her Safeties Nature Nappy will break down in six months under normal conditions or eight months under dry conditions, according to the inventor. She invented a new fabric consisting of eight layers and a protein gel, and a grafted polymer with natural starch technology to ensure liquid is drawn away from the skin. The diapers are available now in Australia and New Zealand and distribution deals are being worked out for Europe, the UK and the USA. However, when these better disposables do filter down to developing countries, they are likely to be more expensive than the current options in a very price-sensitive market.
The cost is another factor. My research shows quite a range when it comes to how many diapers a baby will get through before it masters potty training, but the numbers span 5,000 to 8,000. In Delta, a disposable diaper costs about Rp 2400. So that’s twelve million rupiah (conservatively), which for many young couples would be better spent on other things.
The Balinese have traditionally used a type of cloth diaper. But even cotton isn’t necessarily a better solution. Conventional cotton is one of the most chemically-dependent crops, sucking up 10% of all agricultural chemicals and 25% of insecticides. Some other materials, like bamboo and hemp, are being developed for diapers. Disposable inserts for cloth diapers now make the whole baby-changing adventure much less messy than it used to be, and cloth diapers come with Velcro flaps and elastic legs for better fit. So there’s no excuse to use disposables except when traveling, right?
A closing thought… Some of the toxins released by burning plastic are suspected to cause sexual dysfunction in men who breathe the fumes. So if people continue to burn plastic, they won’t be able to make babies, and diapers of any kind will no longer be an issue. There! The final solution…
