Before You Toss That Butt…

Here’s a simple chart showing the decomposition time for discarded items found floating in our oceans. Most of these are shocking.

The discarded item that seems to jump out the most is the diaper. At 450 years to decomposition, its contents during that time created unfathomable high-end contamination, and, as reported by awesomebeginnings4children.com, the average child--from birth to potty-trained--uses nearly 8,200 of these discarded beauties...some of which are ending up in the ocean. Cost for three years of disposable diapers for one child is close to $2,500. Initial purchase and laundering cost for cloth diapers for three years is less than $600., and can then be used on subsequent children. This only accounts for a fraction of discarded items found in the floating gyres of trash in our oceans. More importantly, even when these items finally break down, they’ve had their share of time to emit their toxicity to their surroundings, where wildlife attempt to thrive.

It seems that convenience overrides our common sense--especially when and where physical effort is concerned. And that, as the superior species, is sad.

Sources:

http://awesomebeginnings4children.com/cloth-vs-disposable-diapers-cost/