Amsterdam, 28 November 2019 – Sanitary towels, baby diapers, and wet wipes: they are largely made of plastic. These products are thrown away after use and hardly collected for recycling. Their market share is much larger than that of the reusable plastic-free alternative. For the first time, the impact of these products on the environment for Europe has been mapped out.
According to the report written by ReZero, the figures for the European Union are frightening:
49 billion single-use menstrual products (sanitary pads and tampons), equivalent to 590,000 tonnes of waste.
33 billion baby diapers, which is 6,731,000 tons of waste.
68 billion wet wipes, this is about 511,000 tons of waste.
The waste is not only an environmental problem but also production and transport have their impact. Think of the use of water during the production process, the use of energy and raw materials. The report also points to the high costs of waste processing for municipalities.
These products are often flushed down the toilet. Of course, this is not the intention, but it happens. If the sewer is overloaded after heavy rainfall, some of the water is discharged directly into the surface water, including all the waste. For example, the sanitary pads and diapers end up in surface water via the sewer system. These products are among the ten most commonly found items on beaches. On British beaches, they make up for 6.2% of all recorded waste items. If they fall apart in the sea, it is in countless small pieces of plastic that can never be cleaned up again.
Fortunately, there are alternatives widely available. Cotton diapers are washable and therefore reusable. The report calculates that major financial savings are possible, not only in the use of materials, waste and CO2 savings but also, and above all, for one’s own wallet. To give an example: if 20% of women opted for menstrual cups, this would save 100,000 tonnes of waste per year in the European Union and they would be much cheaper.
Illustration: From the cover of the report
The industry stated in 2018 that the use of plastic microbeads had decreased by 97.6% and pledged that no more personal care products with plastic microbeads would be sold by 2020. However, such products are still offered for sale, according to scientific research.
Journalist Laura Hoogenraad has been researching the reuse of old, shredded carpets full of chemicals in horse riding arenas, and this is what she found out:
In children’s playgrounds, industrial waste full of toxic substances is being used as part of the “circular economy”.
For the first time, scientists have found microplastics in the placenta. Recent research has also shown that babies consume 1.6 million microplastics daily via food from plastic bottles.
Cheap plastic toys can be dangerous for children