Disposable Diapers Vs Cloth Essay Research Paper

Disposable Diapers Vs. Cloth Essay, Research Paper

Three distinct issues are at hand as we discuss the prospect of taxing the use of disposable diapers. The first of these is the environmental impact issue, supplemented by the general belief that the government is subsidizing the paper industry. The second issue is a compilation of convinces, health issues, and timesaving to the modern family and child care provider. The third, and most important, is the regressive nature of the tax. From all of the issues a recommendation will be made.

The Environmental Issue

There are two major claims advocated by environmentalist groups that need to be considered for this policy. The first claim is that taxpayers would support the disposable diaper industry with nearly $1 billion through hidden subsidies, if all U.S. children were to use paper diapers. These subsidies benefit the paper industry through cheap water for production and pollution control as well as under-priced wood supplies, and consumers of paper diapers through under-priced solid-waste disposal. This particular claim, however, is not entirely accurate. According to a non-profit organization, subsidies are given to the timber industry in general, not only to those who manufacture paper diapers. “$900 million is special provisions for timber companies, driving down the costs of virgin wood products .”(1) Also, subsidies pay for irrigation of crops, some of which is cotton. “Republican soft-money donor J.G. Boswell, is believed to have more land–as much as 192,000 acres under cultivation–than anyone else in America and is said to be worth half a billion dollars. Subsidized water helped make the man, and taxpayers all over the country still help pay to irrigate Boswell’s bountiful crops of cotton and alfalfa. Taxpayers also subsidize Boswell’s cotton crop; he and other irrigators who grew federally subsidized crops are, in effect, being paid twice for expending a valuable commodity on an unneeded product. Estimates of this “double dip” portion of irrigation subsidies range from $85 million to $800 million a year.”(2) Considering that subsidies are benefiting the paper and cotton industries, the environmentalist’s proposal of a 10% tax on paper diaper users only, should be carefully assessed. In the past cities have charged preferential rates to the largest user of water in their area. The citizen uproar over being charged more for water than the large and wasteful user has forced many water providers to charge equal rates. In the new rate structure in the City of Newport News they now charge one rate of $2.04 per hundred cubic feet consumed. In the summer there is a differential of 0.43 cents per hundred cubic feet consumed over the average of the winter consumption rates. Interestingly, this rate change has forced major user to modify some of their wasteful water use procedures or to stop their operations. One of the industries that has disappeared on the Peninsula is a diaper service.

The second issue the environmentalist group claims is that the disposal of solid waste has become a crisis of major proportions, so they want to reduce the volume of waste brought to the state’s landfills. To do so, they have proposed the 10% tax on disposable diapers. According to the EPA, 1.5-2.0% of municipal solid waste comes from disposable diapers.(3) With the introduction of gelling agents and better absorbtion material in disposables we may well see the amount of landfill space needed reduced further. “In many parts of the country, potential landfill space is abundant and we are in no danger of running out. All of the garbage Americans will produce for the next 1,000 years would fill an area 44 miles on each side and about 120 feet deep. A super landfill this size would occupy less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the surface area of the continental United States. [See Figure I.] (4)

Besides the amount of paper diapers being disposed in landfills, which is obviously not a crisis of major proportion, since there is plenty of open land, concerns have been raised on the issue of diaper degradation, and human waste leaking into the soil to contaminate drinking water. “For two-thirds of the nation’s landfills, (those without liners), it’s the products which degrade that pose a potential environmental threat. Degradation can lead to leaching, as chemicals reach the water supply and cause a health threat to fish, wildlife and humans. The other one-third of landfills are completely sealed and allow very little degradation. For those landfills, consumer choices regarding degradability do not matter.” (5) As of January 29, 1992, and July 29, 1992, all new landfill construction and expansion must have two liners and a leachate collection and removal system. A section of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) explains this requirement:

40CFR264– Subpart N–Landfills

(c) The owner or operator of each new landfill unit on which construction commences after January 29, 1992, each lateral expansion of a landfill unit on which construction commences after July 29, 1992, and each replacement of an existing landfill unit that is to commence reuse after July 29, 1992 must install two or more liners and a leachate collection and removal system above and between such liners. “Construction commences” is as defined in Sec. 260.10 of this chapter under “existing facility”.

(1)(i) The liner system must