How long to disposable nappies take to decompose?

Answer 1

What a snake pit this topic is!

Disposable diaper (nappie) opponents claim that the plastic bits of of the product can take u to 500 years to decompose in a properly organized landfill site where they are not exposed to oxygen, light or water.

The cloth only users say the cloth units decompose in about 6 months. There is no reason why the cellulose bits of a disposable wouldn't vanish in the same time. Leavng just the undegradable plastic bits.

Here is the however ... Excavations in landfill site indicate the anoxic conditions do not permit organics to dispose quickly, especially if contained in the air tight, water tight, green trash bags. After 30 years in landfills even steaks and other food wastes were essentially "fresh".

In another twist in the Canadian Innuit mothers have gone to the use of disposables to replace cloth, or the old standby, moss. Garbage pickup in the north being what it is, and the several months of cold and dark does not promote either decomposition or disposal in secure landfill sites. The landscape is littered with years worth of freeze dried, wind blown disposables.