Re: [GreenYes] baby diapers...what solution ??

["Bill Sheehan" <zerowaste@grrn.org>]

Paul:   The Zero Waste solution to diaper waste is
Producer Responsibility.  The community needs to get 
together and say to diaper producers: "If you are a brand 
owner and want to sell your products into our community, you 
have to pay to set up a system to take them back and reuse or 
recycle them.  We'll give you 2 years to set up the system 
(which you can do yourself or pay someone else to do), then 
we'll ban them from our waste management system, and only 
those producers who have a take-back system can sell their 
products here after that."

We heard recently from a PR firm working for a Canadian 
company that is setting up a diaper recycling facility for a 
California community.  Taxpayers (state and local) are putting 
up $500,000 for this demonstration project.  The company is 
putting up $20,000.  Brand owners who make and profit 
from the product are putting up ZERO.  That's not Zero 
Waste.  That's a guarantee to see increasing useless product 
waste coming into the community at an ever-increasing, unfair
cost to taxpayers.

/Bill Sheehan
GrassRoots Recycling Network

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Monica Wilson" <mwilson@essential.org>
To: "GRRN list" <greenyes@grrn.org>
Sent: Thursday, May 09, 2002 2:03 PM
Subject: [GreenYes] baby diapers...what solution ??


If you have any thoughts on this, please respond directly to Paul Tobiason
[tobiasonp@kuentos.guam.net] with the Recycling Assoc. of Guam. Thank you!

-----Original Message-----
From: Paul Tobiason
Sent: Saturday, May 04, 2002 8:41 PM
To: GAIA List (gaia-members@lists.essential.org)
Subject: [Gaia-members] baby diapers...what solution ??

Disposable baby diapers are a real headache.
They seem indestructible and defy natural
decompostion.

Many people (including environmentalists !) buy
these then worry over how to properly dispose
of them.

The "Pampers" manufacturer told me the absorbant
gel material was bio-degradable. It doesn't seem to
decompose very well.

Cloth diapers are a good choice but are hard to
find. And, most people want the disposables as
they are "easy". But, should we really be sending these
to the landfill or incinerator ?

I have disposed of the gel down the toilet but was
careful not to allow any plastic parts to be flushed.
Is there any biodegradable paper liner that can be
used ?

What do they do in New Zealand where they have
the "ZERO-WASTE" concept as law ????

Regards, Paul Tobiason,
member: Recycling Assoc. of Guam


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