Tips on disposing of diapers
DIAPERS have been the in-thing for years now. Ask a mother when they last used, washed a nappy and they do not remember. Stand at the supermarket entrance and take stock as mothers shop. The bigger buy are diapers.
By Harriet Birungi
DIAPERS have been the in-thing for years now. Ask a mother when they last used, washed a nappy and they do not remember. Stand at the supermarket entrance and take stock as mothers shop. The bigger buy are diapers.
Whereas they have made life of a nursing mother easy, for some who are still renting, it is something that it is barring them from living in certain neighbourhoods.
‘If you have children, please find somewhere else. The last tenants wore me out with the complaint of a filled pit latrine. I could not put any of the rent payments to good use. Each pay they made, I had to call cesspool people to come and empty the latrine. It was the dumping point for used diapers,†said one landlord, while I accompanied a friend in search of a house in the many zones of Makindye.
He reasoned that when used diapers are dropped in the toilet, they absorb a lot of the liquid and they expand, leaving the pit latrine filling up in a short span of time. Even if you pile them in a polythene bag, you cannot store them for long before that corner starts to smell. “I have requested would be tenants to show me how they plan to dispose them. And since no one has disproved my belief and the dangers of pampers, I do not want young families to rent my houses, added the landlord.
But Richard Muwanga of U-shine cleaning and garbage collectors says people do not have to worry so much about diaper disposal. Yes they may pose a challenge, but when properly disposed they cause no damage.
Used diapers can safely be disposed of with household waste. Depending on how one disposes waste in a home, once it gets to the garbage trucks, it is transported for disposal into a landfill or incinerator. Once in the landfill, diapers behave just like other forms of household waste. They are readily compressed and occupy relatively little space. In an incinerator, they are burned with other trash.
However, if one has more space at home, they can avoid a build up by burning them. Just like one would do with used sanitary towels, they can wrap them in a polythene bag, pour some kerosene and burn. You have to be careful that they burn by turning them whilst they start a fire advises Muwanga. If need be, get extra charcoal and supplement the kerosene. Since this may be uneconomical, a routine on when to burn should be developed.
Do not be tempted to throw them in sewer lines, warns Muwanga. They will cause blockage. It is true they absorb moisture and you will risk flooding the house when the sewer is blocked.
Avoid throwing in water sources or disposing near sources of water. They are bound to contaminate water when it rains. And that is health hazard to communities.
Do not throw them in gardens because diapers have not been found to decompose or turn to home composite manure. The temptation may be high when it rains to throw them in drainage channels for many city dwellers, but they contribute to channel blockage and will take forever to be removed.
Residents of congested neighbourhoods should pack the used pampers and carry them to garbage heaps where trucks come to collect and take the rubbish. It is a safer method of disposal since we do not have the technology to burn and capture the heat then turn it into energy for use, without polluting the air, just like it is done in the developed world.
DIAPERS have been the in-thing for years now. Ask a mother when they last used, washed a nappy and they do not remember. Stand at the supermarket entrance and take stock as mothers shop. The bigger buy are diapers.
Whereas they have made life of a nursing mother easy, for some who are still renting, it is something that it is barring them from living in certain neighbourhoods.
‘If you have children, please find somewhere else. The last tenants wore me out with the complaint of a filled pit latrine. I could not put any of the rent payments to good use. Each pay they made, I had to call cesspool people to come and empty the latrine. It was the dumping point for used diapers,†said one landlord, while I accompanied a friend in search of a house in the many zones of Makindye.
He reasoned that when used diapers are dropped in the toilet, they absorb a lot of the liquid and they expand, leaving the pit latrine filling up in a short span of time. Even if you pile them in a polythene bag, you cannot store them for long before that corner starts to smell. “I have requested would be tenants to show me how they plan to dispose them. And since no one has disproved my belief and the dangers of pampers, I do not want young families to rent my houses, added the landlord.
But Richard Muwanga of U-shine cleaning and garbage collectors says people do not have to worry so much about diaper disposal. Yes they may pose a challenge, but when properly disposed they cause no damage.
Used diapers can safely be disposed of with household waste. Depending on how one disposes waste in a home, once it gets to the garbage trucks, it is transported for disposal into a landfill or incinerator. Once in the landfill, diapers behave just like other forms of household waste. They are readily compressed and occupy relatively little space. In an incinerator, they are burned with other trash.
However, if one has more space at home, they can avoid a build up by burning them. Just like one would do with used sanitary towels, they can wrap them in a polythene bag, pour some kerosene and burn. You have to be careful that they burn by turning them whilst they start a fire advises Muwanga. If need be, get extra charcoal and supplement the kerosene. Since this may be uneconomical, a routine on when to burn should be developed.
Do not be tempted to throw them in sewer lines, warns Muwanga. They will cause blockage. It is true they absorb moisture and you will risk flooding the house when the sewer is blocked.
Avoid throwing in water sources or disposing near sources of water. They are bound to contaminate water when it rains. And that is health hazard to communities.
Do not throw them in gardens because diapers have not been found to decompose or turn to home composite manure. The temptation may be high when it rains to throw them in drainage channels for many city dwellers, but they contribute to channel blockage and will take forever to be removed.
Residents of congested neighbourhoods should pack the used pampers and carry them to garbage heaps where trucks come to collect and take the rubbish. It is a safer method of disposal since we do not have the technology to burn and capture the heat then turn it into energy for use, without polluting the air, just like it is done in the developed world.