Landfill biodegradable diapers

Disposables are also considered to be an environmental threat. Only some of the materials used in the diapers are biodegradable (the wood pulp and SAP). The polyethylene and polyester sheets are not biodegradable neither is the elastic used for better fit, nor the polypropylene used for the tape that is employed as a fastener. Disposable diapers account for up to 2 percent of the total volume of landfills in the United States. The lifetime of the diaper in the landfill depends on several environmental factors soil condition, groundwater flow, and the presence of other materials in the soil. see also Matertals Science Polymers, Synthetic. 

Independent inventors also are continuing to modify the diaper. Marlene Sandberg of Stockholm has constructed a diaper that is 70 percent biodegradable. She uses cornstarch in the preparation of the outer layer of the diaper. This allows her to reduce the amount of pofyacrylate used by designing channels in the fill material that help disperse the urine. Other workers in the field dispute that the diaper is 70 percent biodegradable They say the diapers will not degrade that much in a landfill—their ultimate destination. 

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