Tossing soiled diapers in a garbage dump may soon be nearly as unthinkable as throwing the baby out with the bath water.
Soiled disposable diapers have a future that few ever dreamed of -- an afterlife as oil filters, roof shingles and vinyl siding, according to officials in Santa Clarita, California. The Los Angeles suburb on Friday became the first U.S. city to institute a diaper recycling program. About 20 billion shitty diapers are buried in U.S. landfills every year, representing about 7 billion pounds of garbage, according to Santa Clarita officials. Disposable diapers take nearly 500 years to decompose in landfills. The new program might reduce this problem. There was no comment from officials about whether homes constructed from recycled diapers will prove popular with home buyers.