California city starts diaper recycling

CNN ^ | 11/9/02

[Straight Vermonter]

SANTA CLARITA, California (AP) -- The city is launching what it says is the nation's first diaper recycling program.

"Santa Clarita has a long history in environmental stewardship and leadership, and we are very pleased to add one more innovative component to our city's overall recycling strategy," Mayor Frank Ferry said Friday.

[Straight Vermonter]

Once in a while I can proudly say that Vermont is the 49th whackiest state in the country.

[SpaceBar]

Soylent brown?

[Lizavetta]

Why aren't they suggesting cloth diapers?

[Jagdgewehr]

The six-month pilot project, which will begin Tuesday, will include about 50 0 participants selected by the city. Each week, families will put their used diapers in specially designed plastic bags or bins to be picked up on trash day.

This will be something when it becomes S.O.P. in California (and it will). Curbsides on trash day will have one recepticle for "greens," one for household garbage, one for aluminum, one for glass, one for plastic, and one for baby doo-doo. Only in California.

[Arkie2]

Lint and dustballs are next. All lint from dryers and all dustballs from under the bed should be placed in handy roadside containers. They will be recycled into useful environmentally friendly products, like out of power Democrats.

[CounterCounterCulture]

What a bunch of cra---

Oops, not gonna say it...wouldn't be prudent.

[Jagdgewehr]

...dustballs from under the bed...

ghost turds

[Diana Rose]

Well marshmellows are snow man poop

[RiVer19]

THAT is a damn funny thought!

[CounterCounterCulture]

More comments...
California town announces start of nation's first diaper recycling

[Gritty]

The materials will be reused in nonfood packaging and products...

This article had me scared for a minute.

I feel much better now!

[janetgreen]

The illegal aliens don't understand recycling - they will still leave the diapers in parking lots.

[RANGERAIRBORNE]

The nutjobs who push for these silly "recycling" programs are NEVER honest about the numbers. We used to have to put all styrofoam plates and cups into special bins for pick=-up for recycling at my company. In a meeting one day, I (not being a "team player") asked just how much we were saving by not just throwing these into the landfill. I got a bunch of mumbo-jumbo, but it was obvious that we must be LOSING hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on this nitwittery (for starters, the man-hours for picking up and transporting this nearly worthless junk, the cost of trucking it from Alaska to California for processing, and lots of administrative overhead- including public relations to tell the world how "green" we were).

Now we use re-usable washable stuff, and have cut the amount of styrofoam in use by over 90%. "Recycling" is practically never economically practical- and NEVER with intrinsically low-value waste (styrofoam, polystyrene bottles, glass, cardboard, diapers, etc). If anyone tells you otherwise about their program, it is a tip-off that they are being heavily subsidized by the taxpayers.

Anyway, I think I see a business opportunity here- think of the boogers that just get thrown away, or stuck to the bottom of theater seats- I am going to set up a (taxpayer-supported) company to "recycle" this precious material- poerhaps I'll convert it to lime Jello, just because that would be technically easy to do...

[BureaucratusMaximus]

California city starts diaper recycling

How ironic...I hear the demand is skyrocketing...

[Greybird]

Joke all you want, but disposable diapers are becoming a serious problem for landfills. They were never designed to handle human waste, and the growing proportion of diapers creates -- yes -- gases and residue that most landfills cannot process without additional treatment strategies. The "leachate" liquid residues now carry biological matter that is difficult to reach and can harbor human diseases.

Cloth diapers, by contrast, had their residue go into the sewer system when they were washed, where biological waste is more easily and routinely handled.

On top of that, the diapers themselves are complex products that use many distinct petrochemical "fabrics" and cannot normally biodegrade. This only adds to landfill volume and compressed, unstable pockets of the degrading human waste matter. Materials that are this structurally intricate are too useful to be discarded. Disposable diapers are almost the petrochemical equivalent of aluminum, with a far higher profitability upon recycling/recovery than other plastics.

I find a constant swinging among FReepers between respect for technical and scientific progress, at one extreme, and sneering at its applications when a cheap political point can be made, at the other. It's very strange.

[rockfish59]

Uhhhhhh, smell my finger!

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

Diapers are particularly bad to recycle. The bacteria problem needs much higher standards. I don't care what kind of packaging you use diapers for, bacteria still gets on the hands, which often rub the eyes. Not to mention the level of concern people will have. They're bio-degrabable anyway. Good grief.

[Arkie2]

You've been properly brainwashed by the greens. Recycling routinely uses up more resources than it saves and is just another feel good measure for the nutty left. Ralfy Nadir loves your kind of attitude.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

Hm... Gray-Out Dufus has been using up too many huggies?

[Thinkin' Gal]

"Santa Clarita has a long history in environmental stewardship and leadership, and we are very pleased to add one more innovative component to our city's overall recycling strategy," Mayor Frank Ferry said Friday.

I wonder if he has any children.