DIAPER RECYCLING TEST SHOWED IT CAN BE DONE.

Byline: Laurene Weste and Marsha McLean Local View

RECENTLY, the city of Santa Clarita launched the nation's first baby diaper recycling program, setting a new environmental standard for California and the nation.

While some may scoff at the notion, consider the truly compelling facts about diapers and our state's landfills and diminishing open space:

Disposable baby diapers, used by approximately 98 percent of all parents, are one of the largest single household items still going to our nation's landfills without any effort to divert them. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, more than 3 million tons of diapers are dumped in U.S. landfills annually and may take up to 500 years to decompose.

Using the EPA's calculations, Santa Clarita's babies are estimated to generate approximately 3,600 tons of diapers per year. To put this in perspective, imagine a football field, including end zones, packed with dirty diapers. That football field would be buried nearly 12 feet deep each year and every year.

But it's not just the diapers that are a problem. Consider what's inside them. Millions of pounds of untreated human waste are also dumped into the landfills, potentially contaminating our precious groundwater supplies and presenting serious environmental and public health concerns.

So now we are faced with the challenge of what to do with all these diapers. In the Santa Clarita Valley especially, we are well aware of California's struggle to address its shrinking landfill capacities, an effort further compounded by rapidly escalating population figures. However, our cities are mandated via state legislation to reduce the amount of trash sent to landfills by 50 percent.

That is why we supported Santa Clarita's nine-month, pilot diaper recycling program, which launched in late 2002.

Santa Clarita's diaper recycling program, a joint effort between our city and international recycling leader Knowaste, was a success. Residents actively participated in the effort, and we proved diaper recycling could actually be done. While the pilot did not run long enough to show the full potential of the program, it provided valuable information on many fronts to assist in creating and implementing future programs.

We learned the public strongly supports the concept of diaper recycling, both statewide and here in our community, where 98 percent of targeted households participated in our program. A statewide survey of California residents found 83 percent would favor implementing a diaper recycling program in their community.

We proved diaper recycling works and we made it easy. Used diapers were picked up each week on our residents' regular trash day and were safely and effectively processed into their original components - wood pulp and plastic. We determined there is a market for these products, which can have a new life as oil filters, shoe insoles, plastic decking or roof tiles. In fact, local, California-based recyclers have offered to purchase the processed diaper material from a citywide venture.

And, most importantly, we learned diaper recycling can be cost- effective. Here in Santa Clarita, it was offered to local residents for as little as 35 cents per household per month.

We also learned that showing real leadership, challenging the status quo and promoting new concepts often sparks controversy and criticism.

As we experienced in the past nine months, the manufacturers of diapers are afraid of these programs and will do anything to stop their progress, launching well-funded misinformation and smear campaigns in an attempt to prevent any public discussion of disposable diapers and their negative environmental impacts.

Santa Clarita's pilot diaper recycling program should be a warning call to them. We proved it could be done. The effort will continue, and we are joined by a growing coalition of environmental organizations, public health professionals, recycling groups, waste haulers, public water agencies and elected officials who agree that diaper recycling is an opportunity to be pursued.