Is There Really Such A Thing As A Poop Time Capsule?

I saw this photo on Facebook along with the caption, "Something to think about — every conventional disposable diaper sent to landfills since their invention in the 1950s is still there and will be for generations to come." (Not sure of the original source, I grabbed it from a friend who shared it from Itsy Bitsy Bums LLC's page.)

I will admit that while I was going through my "Green Mama" phase, this "fact" that appalled me. I first learned this staggering statistic from gDiapers: "a single disposable diaper can take up to 500 years to biodegrade in the landfill." (You can read more of the gDiapers story here.)

That shocking statistic — 500 years!! — spurred me into action, so I ordered a starter set of gDiapers. For those not familiar, g's are a unique diaper that uses a biodegradable liner with washable outerwear system. They worked pretty well, but we had a lot of leaks and the liners were expensive. So I upgraded the system to cloth, and eventually made a switch to different brands of cloth diapers.

On the outset, the initial investment was costly and it generated an additional 3-4 loads of laundry a week, but I was helping the environment. And doing so gave me a feeling of superiority over those moms and dads with diapers in their carts. I was saving a ton of money. I was saving the planet.

And my child wasn't creating poop time capsules that last 500 years! Boy did I brag about that one to all my friends, both in real life and online friends. I'm pretty sure I drove my cousin "Chicken" absolutely crazy spewing all my anti-'sposies rhetoric.

Well Chicken, let me take this opportunity to publicly apologize and admit that I gave up on being super green mama. While researching this article last Earth Day, I found out the 500 year statistics I repeated ad nauseum isn't true.

I can't recall the exact figure I was quoted, but I was shocked at how minimal it was compared to five centuries. It was more like several months to a few years. I have a call in to the initial source to confirm the actual statistic, but since the photo is going around Facebook, I wanted to speak up and try to set the record straight.

To anyone who had to listen to me rant about the "Poop Time Capsules" in your diaper genie, I am truly sorry. There is no such thing as a Poop Time Capsule. It is apparently an Urban Legend. I'm hoping Snopes will look into it soon.

Thankfully our diaper days — cloth or otherwise — are over in our house!