Diapers and old people

The older population in Japan is growing rapidly and these older, incontinent people use more diapers than babies. Handling diaper waste is becoming a major problem. For example, at the Daisen Rehabilitation Hospital, where 8 out of 10 of the approximately 200 patients require disposable diapers, residents produce about 400 pounds of such waste a day. The amount of adult diapers entering the waste stream in Japan has increased by nearly 13 percent, to almost 1.5 million tons annually, in the last five years, according to data from the environment ministry. It is projected to grow a further 23 percent by 2030, when those 65 and older will represent close to a third of the population.

The diaper challenge is especially great in Japan, where more than 80 percent of the country’s waste goes to incinerators — higher than in any other wealthy nation — despite a near obsession with sorting trash. While most other sources of waste are declining in volume as the Japanese population shrinks, incontinence products for seniors are growing by the ton.

Because diapers contain so much cotton pulp and plastic, and swell to four times their original weight after soiling, they require much more fuel to burn than other sources of waste.