Just think about how many used condoms there must be somewhere in the world. All the condoms you’ve ever used. And your grandparents. And theirs. Surely they could be made out of some of those plant-based plastics that are currently being developed?

And don’t get me started about disposable nappies.

  • Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world
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    3 hours ago

    I know where my very first condom is.

    I lost my virginity in the woods near my childhood home. My then-partner took the used condom and threw it on a branch. We called it the condom tree.

    Considering those woods are still there, and we were in a relatively quiet spot, that condom’s probably still there… twenty years later.

    I admit it’s not the most environmentally-friendly thing we could’ve done, but we were teenagers. 🤷‍♀️

    • gandalf_der_13te@feddit.org
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      4 hours ago

      ehh, no. “biodegradable” by my standard means that nothing will be left of it after a certain amount of time (e.g. 500 years). for babies, bones would remain. so not biodegradable.

      • Diddlydee@feddit.uk
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        3 hours ago

        Bones break down completely over time. The collagen goes first leaving just the mineral structure, then soil, water, microbes break down the calcium and phosphorus over time. Skeletons only survive for ridiculously long times when they’re in particularly harsh conditions like desert conditions, frozen conditions, bogs, or when minerals replace the bone to make a fossil. Bones are biodegradable.

  • gandalf_der_13te@feddit.org
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    4 hours ago

    you do realize that condoms are mostly rubber/plastic, and that burns very well, and most garbage is incinerated (burned) anyways?

    • skibidi@lemmy.world
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      3 hours ago

      Most garbage is buried (US source).

      In Germany, landfills still take in more trash than incinerators Source. The recycling rate is very high, however, so most trash is recycled rather than burned or landfilled.

      In Japan, the major country with the largest use of incineration, 70% of municipal waste is burned. However the recycling rate is among the lowest of alll OECD nations at 20%.

  • CosmicTurtle0 [he/him]@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    9 hours ago

    The largest source of plastic waste by tonnage is soda and water bottles. Coca-Cola is the largest producer of plastic waste by a very large margin.

    If you were to fuck someone the same amount of times as you drink a soda you wouldn’t get anywhere near the amount of plastic waste as you do with just drinking that soda.

    For fuck sake, stop drinking soda and fuck people instead.

  • xtr0n@sh.itjust.works
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    9 hours ago

    You would have yo go through so many condoms to even approach the waste that comes with a baby. Like even if you use cloth diapers, you go on a trip and use a few disposable diapers? Boom that’s more landfill space than a decade of condoms.

    • wltr@discuss.tchncs.de
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      2 hours ago

      I bet a lifetime of condoms is less than first month of having a baby. Especially given how sleepless mum and dad are, they can make pretty stupid decisions in regards to many things, hence not eco friendly in many ways too.

    • flilare@piefed.zip
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      3 hours ago

      All the cloth diaper people I knew were still going through packs of baby wipes quickly, and they all needed plastic baggies to transport dirties. No one was using a cloth bag for that.

      Still might be better in the end, but I actually think diapers are one of the things we should be working hard to get more environmentally friendly, they have so many benefits for convenience, but especially baby health and comfort.

    • Hugucinogens@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      10 hours ago

      Yeah, out of all the plastics to reduce the waste of, the ones protecting from diseases and economic ruin are not the ones we should look to first

      • aeronmelon@lemmy.world
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        9 hours ago

        Same goes for drink straws, they should be fining and sanctioning the large companies for their wanton pollution that could be greatly reduced. But, you know, money.

    • laut_sprecher@feddit.org
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      7 hours ago

      Was it the welsh that invented the sheep intestine condom and the english that perfectioned it by removing the rest of the sheep around it, or was it the other way around?

  • abadidonque@feddit.uk
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    8 hours ago

    Regarding nappies: you can start ‘potty training’ pretty much as soon as they’re born. It is babies instinct to try not to soil themselves. This is why it’s so common for parents to get peed on the moment they take off their baby’s nappy. You mostly just have to give your baby lots of opportunities, be attentive to signs they need to go (usually wriggling or squirming), and associate a word/sound/gesture, for them to communicate it to you. I can count the number of times our daughterhas shat herself on one hand, and she’s nearly three years old. For a lot of parents and babies/toddlers it’s a daily occurance. It’s crazy when you think that you have to ‘potty train’ children precisely because you’ve taught them to soil themselves in the first place.

    Hope this proves useful to someone. Feel free to AMA about any of this. Parenting is intense and things have a tendency to get blasted out my working memory before long.