Degradable disposable diapers

One of the studies of cloth diapers assumed a life of 92 uses (a study funded by the disposable industry), whereas the other assumed 167 uses (a study funded by the cloth diaper industry). A study funded by the disposable diaper industry assumed an energy cost for transporting the cotton to China where the diapers were made. One would have to check to see what fraction of cloth diapers are made this way. Disposable diaper makers have pushed composting as a method of disposal. Most cities do not compost this type of waste. The polyolefins would not degrade well in this process, even though the lack of stabilizers in the polypropylene might allow it to become powder. 

Plastics have basically an infinite lifetime. Nothing in nature does a good job at degrading them. If you bury that plastic plate. Styrofoam cup, or disposable diaper in a landfill and then dig it up ten years later, there will be no change. You could even dig it up a hundred years later and get the same results. Waste containing plastics will be with us for a long time. 

PLA and its copolymers have several end-use applications. The major applications include short shelf-life products such as plastic bags for carrying household waste, overwrap and lamination films, barriers for sanitary products and diapers, planting, disposable cups and plates, and so on [120]. Hydrolytic degradability of PLA has generated a lot of interest for biomedical applications such as drug delivery systems [134-142], protein encapsulation and delivery [143-145], development of microspheres [146-154], hydrogels [155], bone screws [156], sutures [157-161], scaffolds [162], and so on. However, the unreinforced PLA has certain limitations and that is why a lot of researches have been dedicated to... 

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