Aswini, mother of a two-year-old, was concerned about diapering her baby when she attained motherhood. She lives in a nuclear family with her husband and son, which means there is little external support in raising her son. “I was guilty about diapering my son. I thought it would harm his skin and genitals. Hence, I started using cloth diapers and it was convenient,” said the 30-year-old, who works in the IT field.
After his first birthday, cloth diapering became an inconvenient choice for Aswini.“They didn’t dry completely in the Bengaluru weather. The inserts always retained some moisture with urine smell even after line drying. Cloth diapers did not last after a few months of use,” said Aswini.
Whenever she thought of diapering the baby with disposables, the image of dump yards would flash through her mind. “I was guilty about it and I was seeking a choice that could offer convenience without affecting the environment. I found the bamboo diapers in the market to be the best choice,” she said. Aswini became guilt-free and started using bamboo diapers every night for her baby. However, her journey of realisation began only later.
KH Prabhu, a textile processing expert, spent several years in the research and development of sustainable textiles. “Bamboo is eco-friendly in the process of cultivation. It grows in smaller areas consuming lesser water without fertilisers and pesticides when compared to the high input cost of cotton,” he said.
Most bamboo fabrics go through a chemically intensive process using strong chemicals and bleaching agents. “Workers in the chemical processing industry have faced severe health issues and those chemicals are also known to be environmentally hazardous,” he added.
The factories generally treat such textile pollutants. “But the toxic textile sludge is dumped in the land leading to severe pollution and further leaching into the groundwater. It is important to note that after such a chemically intensive process, the most acclaimed properties of bamboo, like the antimicrobial and ultra-violet (UV) protection, will be reduced. Even if the product possesses five percent of the said property, brands call their product anti-microbial and UV-protective. But consumers do not question the percentage of it, assuming that the product is entirely antimicrobial and UV-protective in nature,” he said.
“China is the world’s leading exporter of bamboo fabric. India imports most of its textile needs for bamboo in the form of yarn or fabric from China. Thus, it is difficult to authenticate if the bamboo yarn or fabric is eco-friendly as we are unaware of the chemical processing involved during its production,” said Prabhu.
There are at least five common bamboo diaper brands in India. On average, a single piece of bamboo diaper costs about Rs 50. Whereas, a regular synthetic diaper would cost only Rs 12 per piece.
Yogesh Gaikwad, Director of the Society of Dyers and Colourists, said “Unlike popular belief, natural fibres like bamboo do not degrade in nature. Bamboo fabric is basically a rayon that needs certain conditions like high temperature or high humidity to degrade that are not available in nature. Bamboo fabric is cellulose that does not naturally biodegrade in the soil”.
“Even if the product has a 100% biodegradable label, we still do not know how the disintegrated elements compound and react in soil. We will never know what is formed in nature after disintegration. We have no idea about the end of the life cycle of a product” said Prabhu.
Harshini, a new mother who diapers her baby with bamboo ones, said: “I dispose of the diapers along with other organic wastes from the kitchen as they claimed to be natural, plant-based, and biodegradable. It is shocking to me to know that they are not completely natural. The package pretends to be eco-friendly. I spent around Rs 45 per diaper. Now I feel deceived”.
Aswini says she fell for brands and platforms which promoted bamboo diapers for their eco-friendliness and sustainability. “Being a working mother, I have no time to research every product and understand its claims. Had the government created more awareness or stringent regulations around such bio-based products, I would have not spent several bucks thinking I am not harming nature,” said Aswini.
Yogesh said there are several components in the bamboo diapers like the oxo-biodegradable plastic layer, superabsorbent layer, elastics, tapes, etc., each of which degrades at certain conditions. “They only complicate the process of biodegradability,” he said. Oxo-biodegradable plastics are types of plastic that biodegrade faster in the presence of oxygen,
Ruma Chakrabarti, deputy country manager(India) at Institute for Ecology, Technology, and Innovation said, what percentage of the diaper degrades under what condition in how much time is the million dollar question. She also emphasised the need to empower the consumer to question which part of the diaper is biodegradable.
Bamboo diapers come with prints and dyes on their outer cover. Yogesh said, “Calling bamboo diapers chemical-free is only half the story. Even if you test the bamboo diapers, you can identify only the known toxins. There are so many products in use that are untested or unknown if they are toxins.”.
Yogesh quotes the example of using boric acid for several years in preserving rice which is later identified as a toxin. “We can identify a toxin only when we do the allergy tests or mutation tests. So ‘toxin-free’ or ‘chemical-free’ tags are very relative to the current knowledge,” he said.
According to him when the products are labelled biobased, it only means that the product may not be derived or produced from the fossil fuel industry like polyester. “Even in the chemical industry, people are trying to produce sustainable chemicals from non-fossil fuels. But that is a long journey,” said Yogesh.
Ruma, who has a long experience in the field of certifications and accreditations said: “When a bamboo diaper is certified toxin-free or having no harmful chemicals, it only means that the end product is free of toxins or harmful chemicals. This doesn’t testify to the chemical processing involved in making the diaper. Industries have to follow different sets of regulations and standards to be accredited for chemical free processing,” said Ruma.
Thus, Prabhu calls for 100% traceability of products to understand where and how the fiber is obtained, processed, dyed and manufactured.
Biodegradability labelling can be complex. ”There are various tests for biodegradability. Some tests find the product to be 50% biodegradable in 28 days and it is further assumed that the remaining product will also biodegrade in another 28 days. But it is also important to note that a product can be claimed biodegradable if they are just 20% biodegradable. You can note that many products do not mention the percentage of biodegradability in their labels,” said Prabhu.
Consumers, when they see a biodegradable label, must check for certifications and licence numbers to understand what it means, said Ruma. “The consumer must have an extended responsibility while opting for sustainable choices,” she said. Ruma wants people to become more aware of such integrated systems to verify the eco-labels and understand its authenticity. “Unless and until the label is transparent and verifiable, there is no point in spending on such so-called biodegradable products,” she said.
Yogesh said there are instances when such products did not biodegrade in the dumpyard as specified due to non-existence of suitable biodegradable conditions.
Ruing the lack of awareness among the public in waste management practices, Yogesh said: “Common people do not know about chemical compliance or toxicity. There is no legislature or stringent norms that demand it, unlike Europe or America. Brands and manufacturers have to spend on compliance, audit, etc if they need to be certified. Some manufacturers, even when there is a legal need during export, just issue an undertaking that says “There is no material that comes into the factory which is not ‘OEKO-TEX’ certified”. OEKO-TEX is one of the world's best-known labels for textiles tested for harmful substances.
There are many products sold online with misleading labels like ‘skin-friendly’ and ‘eco-friendly,’ said Yogesh. “If the product is claimed to be organic, then it needs to be ‘GOTS’ certified. But some brands who do not want to spend money on certifications, give such general labels. When the product is no better than the ones already available in the market, brands make much more money by simply using these words. Unlike India, America has stringent laws where all the labels have to follow certain rules and regulations,” said Yogesh. GOTS is the worldwide leading textile processing standard for organic fibres, including ecological and social criteria,
Ruma said despite being involved in regulations and compliance for a long time, she too is puzzled when products are labelled eco-friendly. “The term eco-friendly has to be seen in a larger perspective. People have to understand what they are asking for. Both consumption and manufacturing have to be in moderation if it is to be sustainable,” said Ruma.
Unless consumers start to demand better products and are equipped to make conscious decisions, sustainability cannot be attained in reality, Ruma said.
Harshini already started investigating the claims of the bamboo diaper brand she uses. “My baby only deserves the best”, she said.
This story was produced under the Break Free From Plastic Media Fellowship, in partnership with Earth Journalism Network.