Among the timeless teachings in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, he stated that a city set on a hill cannot be hidden. A culture’s guiding principles are readily open to view, with some facets more easily interpreted than others. In a modern time twist on these words, images come to mind of the mini cities that have sprung up on the growing refuse heaps in places like Calcutta and Mexico City. Wealthier citizens have the option of living in walled compounds or districts that shut out this view. But the truth of it is that if most major cities did a little digging, it would not be long before garbage from the past would be unearthed.

Other cultures are more subtle about the fact that mountains of discard and ruin lie beneath their cities. Mankind has often chosen to build cities in layers, covering the ruins of a past with a sheathing of new structures and usages. In Europe, it is not uncommon for a tired tourist to sit down and rest on a stone wall jutting above the earth’s surface by a foot or two, an indication of ancient Roman days. In the New World, there are old street surfaces being uncovered and restored to the original stones that were left by ships unloading ballast as they took on rice and cotton to re-cross the Atlantic. Coastal colonial towns used their refuse as part of landfill projects to push back the tides and build wharves and fortresses.

Detritus has been a mainstay in civilizations’ building techniques since the time of Ur, regardless of how materially affluent or simple the community may have been. Archaeologists and historians try to piece mysteries of the past together by dig findings but some remain impenetrable to their understanding. There are mounds in different parts of the world that still defy interpretation, leaving these specialists in a quandary as to whether this structure had ceremonial significance or it purpose was primarily that of a dumping ground.

This begs the question of what archaeologists and anthropologists of the future will conclude about our culture today that is laced with landfills. Will the contents of these mounds be a quick read for scholars, or will they be left shaking their heads in bewilderment, unsure of how to decipher the code that lies within? Certainly a prevalent question will rise as to what the possible meaning could be of the disproportionate presence of a certain fetid plastic-skinned paper product, what we would readily recognize as discarded adult diapers.

Statistics tell us that nearly 10% of today’s household trash consists of diapers. Some claim that baby diapers make up about 3% of that total; adult diapers adding up to the remaining 7%. At the time of this writing, that particular adult diaper stat seems a tad exaggerated. But there is no doubt that with the tail end of the baby boomers quickly shifting into their senior years and with their life expectancy on the rise, this adult diaper figure will soon be surpassed. Currently, diapers are the third largest source of landfill waste. It stands to reason that as the bottoms these nappies serve get bigger in both size and number, the bigger their allotted landfill space will need to be.

According to some estimates, when given the right conditions (or perhaps what might be called the wrong conditions), adult diapers can take anywhere from 200 to 500 years to completely disintegrate in a landfill. Oxygen is a necessary ingredient for decomposition and when rubbish is oxygen starved, landfill contents are preserved instead of broken down. As part of managing the overtly unpleasant qualities of landfills, many sites receive a daily six inch layer of soil spread over newly dumped material. This addition of soil ironically restricts oxygen from getting on with its necessary business. Other measures are carefully taken to keep water, an efficient oxidizing agent, out of landfills to help avoid toxins leaching into surrounding land and waters. All this adds up to what is called the “dry tomb effect”, in essence the mummification of refuse. This mummification will enable future excavators to carefully examine a reasonably well preserved array of disposable incontinence products in their effort to decipher history.

“Brownfield” is the ecological term for a fallow landfill site before it is cleaned up - how appropriate when considering the diaper element. Brownfields become the mounds upon which expanding cities are built, today and long into the future. The press of urban life and its real estate requirements eventually dictate that developers turn the soil and turn a buck. Planners’ designs make it possible to completely ignore the history of the compacted detritus of broken hair dryers, rotting sofas and adult diapers that lie beneath. They dutifully follow the real estate maxim that location is everything: Everyone knows that if you want a great view, build on a hill.

Popularity: 3%

Related Content

Subscribe to the post comments feeds or Leave a trackback