Degradable nappies

Around 35% of Huggies and Snugglers nappy content is degradable.

Many people are concerned that the plastic parts of disposable nappies won’t breakdown in landfill.

The truth is, not much breaks down in landfill anyway, regardless of whether it’s degradable or not.

This is because landfill is designed to be as dry and stable as possible, and as a result it tends to “mummify” the contents.

Archeological research into landfill shows that even newspapers haven’t degraded after decades in a landfill – archeologists can actually read the newspaper print to find the date of the deposited waste!

Garbology

In the 70s and 80s, teams from Arizona University lead by Dr William Rathje sorted through the rubbish from US landfills, looking at patterns of consumption and disposal.

What they discovered about how people really buy, use and dispose of products, including food and nappies, (as opposed to what they say they do in surveys) will surprise you.

Their findings also debunked many myths about which products take up the most room in landfill (and it’s not polystyrene packaging and disposable nappies!)

Read about more garbage myths.