Public Domain MaxPixel Parents will have to embrace the old-fashioned cloth diapering method. That’s not a bad thing. The Pacific island nation of Vanuatu has announced that it will ban disposable diapers . The ban is part of a nationwide effort to curb plastic pollution, which has overwhelmed the tiny country in recent years. With such limited land mass, it has no "away" where it can toss its garbage and forget about it. Vanuatu’s is believed to be the first such ban on disposable diapers anywhere in the world. Disposable diapers are made from a blend of plastic and wood pulp. Each one is used for a few hours, then tossed into a landfill, often encased in additional plastic, where it will linger for an estimated 200 to 500 years. A baby uses between five and eight thousand diapers prior to potty-training, and the U.S. alone generates 18 billion a year. That’s a whole lot of feces-infused plastic waste. Yuck. Vanuatu’s ban makes sense from a environmental management standpoint, but many citizens are unhappy. Parents and women’s groups view it as a setback, a return to the time-consuming and old-fashioned diapering practices of the past, but the government argues […]
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