We have been composting pee-only nappies, as I read an article in Gardening Australia magazine about a reader who had been using them as a mulch layer. I initially tried this, but the wood pulp core, and water-saving chemical, disintegrated too quickly.
How?
When we use disposables, any wee-only ones are kept in a separate nappy bucket. When it's time to compost, I make a cut with scissors at the top of the nappy near the leg edge, then tear down the leg seam. This allows the pulp core to fall out, into the compost. The plastic wrapping is then put into the regular rubbish.
This is a controversial thing to do for 2 reasons:
What about the nasty toxins in water-saving chemicals? Well these are effectively the same chemicals used in water-saving crystals anyway, so I figure, 'what's the difference?'. I'd like to hear from anyone with a different view.
So far, all the nappies are still composting, so I'll let you know when we start using it.
I'm very happy with this approach as it helps us deal with one of the two significant issues with disposing of nappies - volume of waste in landfill. The result of removing the pulp core is that more than 50% of the bulk is removed.
I have read that for "eco" disposables, you can compost the entire nappy as some of the other construction materials are biodegradable - but we have not yet tried this. If you do this, you need to remove the non biodegradable (plastic) parts of the nappy from your compost. Or leave them there I suppose ... they won't hurt.
One thing to note is that all the urine makes the compost acidic - you may get 'vinegar flies', so add basic garden lime to counteract the acidity.
Here are a few websites on different approaches and opinions on composting nappies.
Nature's Child - disposable nappies, use and disposal
Sydney Morning Herald - Child's play: turning nappies into compost
EnviroComp Ltd - NZ joint venture between Huggies and EnviroComp to commercially compost nappies
This does not resolve the other significant waste problem of disposables - human waste in landfill. All the pooey nappies are still going to landfill ....
How?
When we use disposables, any wee-only ones are kept in a separate nappy bucket. When it's time to compost, I make a cut with scissors at the top of the nappy near the leg edge, then tear down the leg seam. This allows the pulp core to fall out, into the compost. The plastic wrapping is then put into the regular rubbish.
This is a controversial thing to do for 2 reasons:
- human waste treatment
- water-saving chemicals
What about the nasty toxins in water-saving chemicals? Well these are effectively the same chemicals used in water-saving crystals anyway, so I figure, 'what's the difference?'. I'd like to hear from anyone with a different view.
So far, all the nappies are still composting, so I'll let you know when we start using it.
I'm very happy with this approach as it helps us deal with one of the two significant issues with disposing of nappies - volume of waste in landfill. The result of removing the pulp core is that more than 50% of the bulk is removed.
I have read that for "eco" disposables, you can compost the entire nappy as some of the other construction materials are biodegradable - but we have not yet tried this. If you do this, you need to remove the non biodegradable (plastic) parts of the nappy from your compost. Or leave them there I suppose ... they won't hurt.
One thing to note is that all the urine makes the compost acidic - you may get 'vinegar flies', so add basic garden lime to counteract the acidity.
Here are a few websites on different approaches and opinions on composting nappies.
Nature's Child - disposable nappies, use and disposal
Sydney Morning Herald - Child's play: turning nappies into compost
EnviroComp Ltd - NZ joint venture between Huggies and EnviroComp to commercially compost nappies
This does not resolve the other significant waste problem of disposables - human waste in landfill. All the pooey nappies are still going to landfill ....
