From what I understand, the gel filler in disposable diapers (and other incontinence products) is hydrophilic, meaning it attracts and holds liquids as much as possible (most of us have probably seen what happens when a disposable diaper is tossed into water: it will continue swelling until it simply bursts). The same or a similar gel is sold as an additive for potting medium, so plants’ pots don’t dry out as fast.
So now I wonder…with all the (no doubt) billions of diapers sold and used worldwide every year, and most of those diapers full of urine before they are disposed of (frequently wrapped in plastic a la Diaper Genie, plastic grocery bags, ordinary household garbage bags) and then buried in modern landfills…what is the long-term impact on the Earth’s water supply…local water tables…
In short, what harm might we be doing by locking all that water away permanently, where even plants can’t get to it to recycle it?
In all the cloth vs disposable debates I’ve seen, people talk about the landfill space and the energy used to manufacture disposable vs the chemicals used to grow cotton, the water used to wash them, the power used to dry them…but I’ve never seen anyone ever address the question of what are we doing, locking all this water away inaccessible?
Not even diapers. What about other water products like coke bottles, and other containers that contain water that are sealed and buried? That’s a lot of water locked up. I suppose in comparison to the amount of water open to the world, and water locked in containers, it might not be much. But over time its going to add up.
First, all the diapers in landfills lock away the water…
then the [del]pre-spice mass[/del] landfill explodes and the surviving[del]sandtrout [/del]“diapers” metamorphose into Shai Hulud. Next stop- Desert Planet!
The Spice Must Flow!
or, more seriously
I think any fresh water locked away in gel form will get replaced by new fresh water from oceanic evaporation. We don’t worry about the water locked in the ever-increasing number of human bodies, do we, although each new human supposedly contains enough water “To Drown A Dog” as the rhyme goes.
I don’t think you’ve caught my point, MrDibble: the water in the oceans isn’t infinitely replaceable. Bodies of water do change - do a bit of reading about the Dead Sea, which has shrunk so much (and its salinity increased so much) that Israel is doing a major work to bring more water in from elsewhere to replenish it.
Also, people (and other animals) don’t lock water in - that water comes back out again in the form of evaporation and elimination, and is returned to the environment, into the water cycle. I suppose if, when people die, they are buried in hermetically-sealed coffins such that ordinary decomposition or at least dessication can never take place, then that would contribute to the problem.
I’m not suggesting that this is a short-term problem, but…imagine locking away an average of 6 oz of ‘liquid’ in the average disposable diaper every use. That’s high for newborns, very low for older children. Now, I have no way of knowing how many billions of diapers are used a day in the world - I doubt anybody could really guess that. Let’s say 1 billion, just to have a number to work with.
So…6 billion ounces of liquid locked away every single day. Times…a hundred years. Two hundred? Is there really no chance this could be a problem in the long term?
Nor did I say it was - but nor is the water in the disposable diapers indefinitely trapped. Eventually it must become subject to geological forces and be liberated, so no worries.
You miss my point - an adult human being contains an amount of water (ignoring the water cycling through him) that is not “free” per se. Sure, water cycles in and out of individual humans, but there’s always a finite amount of water* currently* “locked up” in humans, and the number of humans is increasing for the forseeable future, so a nett increase in the total amount is certain.
This does not scare me, because, as you point out, the water eventually cycles out. So too will the water in the gel. Water is always getting incorporated in rocks (read up on hydrous minerals or metamorphic rocks), much more tightly than in any diaper gel. Still comes out in geological processes - the timescales may be a little longer, but we still won’t be Arrakis in the future because of it.
At a guess I’d say 1 billion is way too low - I’ve read around 18 billion /year in the US in 1989 but so what? Let’s use that higher figure.
the mass of the hydrosphere is around 1.35 × 10^18 tonnes, and you’re worried about 10.8 x 10^12 ounces (assuming 100 years) ?
that’s around 336 *10^6 tonnes over 100 years, or 2.5 x 10^-10, or I guess you could say “a quarter billionth” of all the water on Earth. While the Hydrosphere’s a chaotic system and all, I think I’ll save my stillsuit for when I really need it.
says that plant gel is biodegradable. I assume that when the gel (sodium polyacrylate) biodegrades, then either the water is released or the hydrogen and oxygen are released. Am I way off base?
Whoops, misread days for years there, but it still comes out in the wash - my rough calculation for total water trapped over 100 years should still be good, I think.