【Aging, safety net and fiscal crisis in Japan】No.173: How to let disposable diaper garbage into the sewer

As mentioned in Column No. 172, the increasing amount of disposable diapers in the garbage has become a substantial social problem. Currently, disposable diapers are processed together with general waste. For that reason, there are problems with hygiene management where they are stored before transporting them to garbage collecting locations and with the smell when depositing them there. Therefore, the government is considering sewage disposal after processing disposable diapers using a processing apparatus. As Table 1 shows, there are three types of disposable diaper processing apparatus.

As shown in Figure 1, among general consumers who are using disposable diapers at home, the percentages of respondents who answered "I would like to use it very much" or "I would rather use it" in favor of a disposable diaper processing apparatus are 15.9% and 43.1%, respectively. As shown in Figure 2, among long-term care facilities that are using more than 150 disposable diapers per day, the percentages of respondents who answered "I would like to use it very much" or "I would rather use it" are 26.4% and 54.0%, respectively. Therefore, the government is planning to examine which type of processing method for disposable diapers is optimal and to reach a conclusion by 2021.

Table 1: Types of processing method for disposable diapers

Source: Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism

Figure 1: For and against using disposable diaper processing apparatus among general consumers

Note: The total is not necessarily 100% because of rounding.
Source: Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism

Figure 2: For and against using disposable diaper processing apparatus among long-term care facilities

Note: The total is not necessarily 100% because of rounding.
Source: Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism