Environmental Concern on the Landfield with Diaper Disposal

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Environmental Concern on the Landfield with Diaper Disposal

Introduction

Global warming, climate changes, natural disasters and catastrophes, amongst others, are some of the words that have accompanied the day-to-day news in the television sets and the print media. The earthquake in Japan, the tornados and hurricanes in the United States, the drought in Africa, and so on, are the major topics hitting the news headlines. Whether the atmosphere and climate changes are the cause of these disasters or they are caused by some other factors, is still a debatable topic until now. However, the fact remains that we are not treating our environment as good as we expect us to treat us back (Bassilli, Maurizino & Alessandro 35). The plastic cans and paper bags we use, the gas in our motor tanks, the bulbs in our houses, the energy used to heat the warm water in our houses, amongst others, are doing more harm than good to us. Unfortunately, their harm lasts more than their benefits. Children are a blessing and so are some of the things we get to encounter in a lifetime. Like the other blessings, they come with a price to pay. The screams and shouts heard in the labor wards and the delivery rooms are a small fraction of the whole price to be paid. After delivering, bringing up the child is the largest portion of the price. When hears the word ‘baby’, the word ‘diaper’ comes in hand. This is a mother’s ‘friend in time of need’ during the first couple of years after the child’s birth. Unfortunately, these highly bought, highly used items are not properly disposed. Diapers are an environmental and health hazard and laws together with regulations have been implemented to deal with their disposal.

Bauknight & Rollins (2010) indicates, “It is important to take time to reconnect with nature and to get out from the norms of computers, television, and the couch”. It was a time to go out, explore and enjoy nature outside the confines of our house. My wife and I decided to go out for a vacation in Guatemala. This is because we love to explore the nearby forest, which has a waterfall and very exotic trees and flowers. We decided that having a camping experience was the best value to our vacation. Immediately after we arrived, we packed some sandwich and fruits for lunch and lots of water and headed out for an exploration. This was a moment to spend some quality time together as well as enjoy Mother Nature.

We left for the exploration immediately, with all the excitement. As we entered the forest, we saw some land with no trees, which had a nice carpet-like grass. My wife suggested that we remove our shoes and walk barefoot for the grass was cool because of the dew. We decided to play for a while before continuing with the exploration. I had a rope in my bag, which we skipped while singing some songs that made us miss our old days. We later continued with the trip. After a short walk, we entered the forest. The trees were covered with green leaves with some beautiful tall and short flowers growing near them. Some of the flowers were familiar to me but I had not come across the others before. We touched the leaves of the exotic flowers and smelt the fragrance. The scent was unbelievably amazing and unique. It left us with the desire of starting our own line of perfumes. There was a nice fragrance in this part of the forest. We left the entrance after picking some bouquet of flowers. We heard the roaring of a waterfall as we neared the core of the forest. On our way to the waterfall, we picked some bananas as we enjoyed the sight of beautiful birds, which were singing. Their song brought such a romantic feeling in the air. We arrived at the waterfall where we were glad to find some company as there was another group of people present there. We swam for an hour then we had our lunch at around two o’clock. The other group joined us in continuing with the expedition, but we decide to come back and set camp in the evening near the waterfall.

We enjoyed the site of monkeys that were playing all over. As darkness started to set in, we went back to the waterfall where we had decided to set our tents. As I set the tent, my wife prepared dinner. She prepared chicken and rice, which each of us enjoyed later with a glass of wine. We all lied down on the ground and stared at the moon and the stars. We slept at around midnight while listening too trees whizzing and we heard some owls making scary sounds. We were woken up the following morning with the sound of birds. We prepared breakfast, after which we went to visit a certain cave. We had lunch at noon and started preparing to go back to the city. We left the forest planning to come back and enjoy nature soon, as we had been missing a lot in our lives. Enjoyment of nature will be history in the future, if the disposal of such as diapers is not done in the right way today.

Discussion

The diapers are of two types. There are those that are washable and made of recyclable material while there are those that are only used once and then disposed off (Pham & Eric, 2011). The recyclable diapers are made of hemp, bamboo, microfiber or cotton. On the other hand, the disposable diapers are made of chemicals of absorbent nature, which absorb the waste and then disposed off after use. An average child will use around eight diapers in a day assuming he/she is being changed after every three hours. If the baby were on diapers for the next three years, with a year having 365 days, then the child would have used 2920 diapers. Of cause, this number varies depending on how long the child is on diapers, how he is constantly changed and the other alternatives used. Around 27.4 billion disposable diapers are in use each year. This only applies to the United States (Pham & Eric, 2011). This results to used disposable diapers of about 3.4 million tons every year, an addition to the already present landfills.

Unfortunately, there is no law(s) mandating recycling nationally in the U.S. For this reason, the local governments and the state involve themselves in introducing requirements regarding recycling. Some states have introduced landfill bans as far as recyclable materials are concerned. However, there are laws and regulations that strictly require putting litter in the right places. Where this litter is taken after it is put in these “right places,” only concerns a few. Most municipals have been enacted in order to facilitate the emptying of the diaper contents in the toilet before they are disposed off.

The Municipal of Santa Clarita in California introduced a compulsory diaper-recycling program (Gale Group, 2002). This involves collecting the discarded diapers and then taking them to a plant that will recycle them. This was built after a similar plant in Arnhem, Netherlands, which has been operating since 1999. Although the use of recyclable diapers is highly advocated for, most people use the disposable one since they are less messy. Apart from Santa Clarita municipal that tried to incorporate the ways to control the diapers being disposed off, most states do not have defined laws ad regulations that have implemented the needed effort of controlling ways of disposing the diapers that are being used.

Before the disposable diapers were introduced into the universe, people used the recyclable diapers that were mostly made of some fabric. These diapers were made and are still made of bamboo, cotton, microfibre (Pham & Eric, 2011) and so on. They are recycled by washing them up after use and then using them when they are dry. Most of these diapers are white in color. They are in have been used for many years and are still being used even today especially in the developing countries. They are cheaper and can even be use on a second and third child if they are well maintained. These diapers are environmental friendly, as one disposes off the waste as one would dispose off the waste of a grown up.

John Muir tells us that “The forests of America,…must have been a great delight to God…the whole continent was a garden…” (Rollins & Lee 45). This shows how we have destroyed nature since the beginning of time. Using diapers and having no proper ways of disposing them off, or better still, getting rid of them, is not helping the current situation at all. No, man/woman cannot go back to the olden ways of washing a child’s raw poop and being mixed up in all that mess. What will happen to the well-manicured nails? Breast-feeding the child is hard work enough. No one needs extra duties. Where is the time anyway? There are other important duties to be done like going to the beauty parlor than cleaning up baby’s poop with old age methods. Even if using those old age diapers meant saving the planet. It is better to try and barely survive in future than to try to prevent that today. We have not even talked about the smell that one has to endure. Although all these statements may sound ridiculous, this is what someone says unknowingly, every time they throw away a disposable diaper.

Solutions

As explained earlier, going back to using disposable diapers that can be washed is one major step in trying to save the current situation. The well-manicured nails might be ruined not to mention enduring the indescribable smell, but one who have saved many years of future agony. These diapers, which are also known as nappies in some countries, save on a lot of money used on the diapers. Most of them are made of white cotton. They are used with diaper liners, which are mostly made of linen. One can buy as a single diaper or in bunches especially for first time parents. There are parents who like buying new items for each coming baby.

Some of the disadvantages that come along with using these diapers are that they take up once time. They need one to use proper cleaning methods as they easily stain and tear off especially when hard abrasives are used on them. They are not as good absorbers as the other diapers. This means that one has to change the child frequently. However, as mentioned earlier, they are environmental friendly and are not a major threat to the environment. There are no chemicals used on them so the baby does not get in to contact with chemicals just in case he/she is the sensitive type.

There are those who prefer using the disposable diapers, as they have no other better option. If people choose to stick with this diapers, then the Santa Clarita way of controlling the diaper disposable methods but be adopted by all. Many might argue that this method is too expensive and time consuming. In either way, whether we choose to deal with the situation now or in future, it will still be costly. When we deal with it today, we will pay with our own money. In the future, we will pay with our own lives. The diaper recycling program started by the municipal of Santa Clarita cost $1,800per ton (Dunn, 2003).

This process begins by the collection of all diapers (whose contents have been removed) by the garbage collectors. They are taken to the Knowaste Plant where they are shred and made into pulp. The super absorbent polymers is deactivated, the material sanitized then the separation of plastics takes place. Hot water is constantly put and removed from the batch processor at the initial stages. This is done to extract the deactivated super absorbent polymers, waste and fiber. After the initial stage, there is removing of the plastic and palletizing it. The remaining pulp is made thick after the screening and cleaning of the remaining materials. The water removed in the initial stage is put in tank with dissolved air flotation (DAF). It is then used again. The contents gotten in the DAF are put together with what is gotten after screening and cleaning the pulp and then palletized. The wastes are then disposed off in the municipal’s sewer system (Dunn, 2003).

Another alternative that can be considered is incorporating both cloth diapers and the disposable diapers. This will reduce the number of disposable diapers being used in a day and add up to the general number of disposable diapers used in a year. This would give the consumers a break of using the cloth diapers when they use the disposable diapers. Using the recyclable diapers will not harm the children for those living in fear that they will. Most children in the developing countries use the cloth diapers and the other types of recyclable diapers. They grow just as normal kids do.

Critiques might argue that using recyclable diapers is more expensive than manufacturing new ones and that it is not efficient at all. However, it is good to note that recycling tries to fix the current environmental problem. The environment is more important than being efficient. The environmental problems created in the cause of trying to be efficient cannot be mentioned for they are too many. It is a high time that humans started thinking in terms of how much they are giving to the environment rather than how much the environment is giving to them. If man continues to think of nothing else but acquiring more wealth with less effort as he is doing currently, then he is in more danger than he can ever imagine. For those who feel that using the cloth type of diaper will make them have soiled hands and chipped nails due to washing, one can always use gloves or employ one who does not mind getting messy as long as there is a pay. After all, we are destroying the environment in search of the same money.

Conclusion

Janisse Ray says, “if you clear a forest, you’d better pray continuously. While you’re pushing a road through and rigging the cables and moving between trees on the dozer, you’d better be talking to God” (Rollins & Lee 31). Janisse is ironically telling us that a price will be paid in every ‘development’ we do, at the cost of destroying nature. The price could either be paid now in the future. When she encourages us to talk to God, this means that he is the only one who knows the amount of price we will pay because of our consequences. Children are a blessing and so is the other nature that is with us. It is not fair or just for man to embrace one and discard the other. They must both be given equal attention and care. The alternative methods to using disposable diapers should be used. It is better to pay the price now and enjoy the fruits later than enjoy the fruits now and pay the price later. One might argue that they are sure that they are here now and that they do not know or care about tomorrow. However, if one will not be there tomorrow, his/her children will be there and they are going to suffer the mistakes that he/she did today. It is better to prevent some harm today than wait for the people of tomorrow to rectify the mistakes. No one knows whether the will be in a better position to rectify them or they will be in worse situation so much so that there will be nothing to save. Let us start getting our hands dirty today, for a better tomorrow (Park 30).

Works Cited

Basili, Marcello, Maurizio Franzini & Alessandro Vercelli. Environment, inequality and collective action. Oxon: Routledge, 2006. Print.

Dunn, Josh. Diaper Recycling in California. 8 September 2011. Web. 15 June 2011

Gale Group. Santa Clarita launches diaper-recycling program. (Municipal Recycling).(California)(Brief Article). Entrepreneur, Nov. 2002. Web. 15 June 2011.

Park, Chris. The environment: principles and applications. New York, NY: Routledge, 2001. Print.

Pham, Nhung T. & Eric. W. Brown. Diapers and the Environment. Nearta, 2011. Web. 15 June, 2011.

Rollins, Brooke & Lee Bauknigt. Green. New York, NY: Fountainhead Press, 2010. Print.