by Joyce Slaton posted in Products

Though non-parents seem to regard changing diapers as the worst parental duty, new moms and dads quickly get used to the mechanics of a diaper freshening. One thing many of them never get used to: the gnawing guilt they feel throwing the diapers into a landfill.
That guilt is not misplaced: Although experts quibble over whether cloth or disposable diapers have more of an impact on the environment, it's clear that one of the downsides of disposables is that they linger long after they're no longer doing their job.

In fact, it's been estimated that 18 billion (billion!) diapers are tossed each year, a simply incredible pile of garbage that will last a really, really long time, since it takes each diaper about 500 years to decompose in a landfill. But it doesn't have to be like that. Trenton, New Jersey super-recycler TerraCycle has cracked the disposable diaper recycling process. Here's how it works.
 
So you see, parts of your diapers can be composted, while others can be transformed into plastic pellets, ready for another transformation into another type of product.

Sure looks better than this, right"

So why isn't diaper recycling happening" In short, it's because no one's willing to pay for it. There's not enough of a market for the recycled plastic pellets (yet") to make recycling pay for itself, and neither consumers nor diaper makers want to shoulder the cost. TerraCycle hopes that will change someday.
As Terra...