The Diaper Recyclers

As the loads of diapers and I were unloaded onto the cement floor of the recycling company, the Lodal trash truck drove away, leaving a very large and very loosely packed pile of cloth and disposable diapers behind. Another side loading trash truck full of cloth and disposable diapers backs up to the pile and dumps its large load, the loose and bagged diapers fall out and cover parts of the pile I am in. Then, once the load is out, the truck drives away. It wasn’t long before a large bull dozer came along and began to scoop up the diapers and I. the bull dozer bucket carried the first load over to a large funnel hopper and then dropped them in. Then it came back and scooped up another large load with a few loose diapers falling down along the way, over to the funnel hopper. Then the bucket came and scooped the part of the load that had ME in it up and it carried the diapers and I over to the funnel hopper and then it dropped the load and I into the funnel on top of the other loads that were still inside.

Danny: (Me) HEY! What are you DOING! What is this thing???? Where are MY diapers??? Can’t I get a diaper change??? I am starting to feel soaked here!!!

The front loading bucket backed away and then left to go get the rest of the diapers loaded into the funnel hopper for the first part of processing. As the bull dozer Front loading bucket comes back with another load of diapers, it dumps them all on top of me and they cover me completely. I didn’t know this at the time, but this was just the beginning phase of the recycling process. This was the sorting line that separated the cloth items from the disposables and the non recyclable disposable diapers from the recyclable disposables. The NON recyclable disposable diapers were put into another bin that is later taken to the company landfill behind their facility, made especially for diapers and subjects they can’t recycle.

As the diapers inside the funnel hopper began to sink lower and lower, I began to hear the slow-moving conveyor belt’s whine and the diapers falling down onto it. As the diapers fell out from under me, I was forced down through the narrow part of the funnel and onto the conveyor belt feet first then onto my diapered bottom on the conveyor belt. More and more diapers and bags of diapers fell down onto the belt behind me as the belt carried the diapers and I along the enclosed conveyor belt. A short time later, the thick steel walls surrounding the conveyor belt stopped and then there was only open belt for a bit. There were 12 sorters standing around both sides, six on each side of the belt, that were picking out cloth diapers, and cloth items and they were tossing the cloth diapers and items into a couple of rolling janitorial carts that were quickly filling up. There were already two thickly cloth-diapered subjects in the two cloth diaper carts awaiting their fates.

Since I had thick disposable diapers on over six layered ex-cloth diaper service, toddler sized diapers on, I was allowed through to the end of this conveyor belt where all of the disposable diapers were dropping into one of ten waiting rolling janitorial carts.

Once the bin filled up, it was rolled away to another sorting belt and the non recyclable disposable diapers were separated from the recyclable diapers along with any cloth diapers that may have slipped past the first sorting. My disposable diapers were REALLY, REALLY puffy and bulky and this made it easier to process in the machine that some of the diapers and I were going to be put into later on. The cart I was in was emptied onto the next conveyor belt and the load and I moved along the belt as the sorters picked off quite a few diapers that weren’t going to be recycled due to the type of plastics used as the backsheet. Then what was left on the belt was being taken into an enclosed area of the belt where the diapers got heavily sprayed with deodorizers and SAP deactivators. As I came up to the sorters, my diaper was poked at and several fingers were inserted into the elastic leg gathers, checking for cloth diapers. Finding that I indeed had some under my disposable, I was taken off the belt and brought over to a changing station and laid upon it then strapped down.

A pretty blonde woman was standing over me, between my legs and was unfastening the tapes of my disposable diaper. She pulled the front of the diaper down and saw the six layered toddler sized cloth pre-fold diapers and then she called over to some other woman to ask her what she wanted done with me and the diapers.

Blonde: HEY! Jackie, what do you want me to take off, the cloth diapers or the disposable?

Brunette: (Coming over to take a look) AH…since that disposable diaper is NOT recyclable and the cloth diapers are, take the disposable off and then toss it into the disposal carts as you take the boy back to the cloth diaper recycling department then come back because there are two more that I need you to change.

Blonde: Sure boss.

The blond took the disposable diaper off and then tossed it onto my chest without even rolling it up since it wasn’t even wet yet but slightly damp. Then she unstrapped me and then picked me up and carried me over to the disposable diaper sorting bins and then took my disposable diaper and tossed it into one of the carts as she passed it. Then She carried me to the cloth diaper recycling area and then laid me down into one of the carts that was almost full.

Blonde: “There you go sweetie, in a very short time, you and all of these nice, comfy cloth diapers will be taken to get recycled and then you will possibly end up at the chemical treatment department and wearing a nice, thick recyclable disposable diaper. By the time we are finished with you, you and your diapers will be all gone and you will then get either flushed down one of our toilets along with some of the cloth diapers we can’t recycle or taken directly to our diaper landfill and left there.”

Danny: But, but, but….why do I have to go in with my favorite cloth diaper on? Can’t they just be taken off of me and then I can be put into a diaper and used somewhere else?

Blonde: Sorry kid. You are here to be recycled and we have to reprogram you and then get you put into some recycled diapers to get tested before we are completely done with you. Then our trash men will come and take you and all of the diapers we can’t recycle away and dispose of them in our diaper landfill where you will be kept until either someone decides to sell you or they decide to bury you with the diapers.

Bye-bye now.

The Blonde walks away and goes back to her station leaving me in the cart with lots and lots of clean and formerly wet and rolled up messy cloth diapers. Then about 20 minutes later, after the cart filled up with 40 more pounds worth of diapers, the cart was then rolled away from the end of the sorting belts and taken into a large metal building where there were four two-story piles of cloth diapers of all sizes waiting to be washed and processed. The man pushing the cart; pushed it over to the bottom of one of the piles and then tipped it over the front end allowing all of the cloth diapers to spill out onto the floor and the pile. Then the man took the completely empty cart away and rolled it back to the sorting conveyor belts. I was left there as the diapers on the other side of the pile were being taken and bagged up and then raised up high into the air along a track that took the loads over to a very large capacity industrial sized washing machine. Once the bag was over the washing machine’s opening, the bag’s bottom opened and the diapers fell down into the tumbler. Then the machine automatically started up and began to wash the diapers, soak them and then wash them again and then rinse them before it ejected them onto another conveyor belt. Once the cloth diapers were on the belt they were destined for the cloth diaper shredder. The shredder had a compactor blade that pushed and held the loads of diapers and subjects wearing cloth diapers and items made from cloth, into and against the shredder teeth so that the diapers can be shredded properly.

By the time the diapers made it to the shredder hopper, the diapers were completely and fully dry. Load after large load were taken by the auto loading system and dropped into the bank of large capacity industrial washers. Multiple loads were being taken to each separate washer and dropped in then the auto loading bags were coming back and reloading and then going up and then rolling along the track along the high ceiling.

Then when there was a washer available, the next bag would move it’s load over to it and drop it in before circling back to pick up another load. Before too long, some one came over to the pile to check the progress and see what was left. The man came over and saw me laying there on the bottom of the pile.

Man: (wearing a white laundry uniform) Well! What do we have here??? Looks like we have some nice, comfy wet cloth diapers that need to be recycled!!! I think I am going to toss you higher into the pile so that you will be taken sooner! Once you get your diapers shredded off of you, you will get left in one of the screens and when they come to clean the screens, some one will take you to get a recycled diaper put on you and then take you to get it tested. OK…tossing time….one….two….threeeee!

I flew through the air and landed closer to the top of the pile of cloth diapers. Then suddenly, one of the bags came down and scooped a bunch of the diapers and I up and then closed up around them and me. I felt the swaying motion as the bag rose into the air and then began to move forward quickly along the track. Since the bag I was in, was the fifth in line, I was forced to wait until there was an open machine for the next 45 minutes or so. Once there was an open machine and the load I was in, was up next, the bag wished the load I was in, to the next open machine and then it lowered down so that it was dangling just above the washing machine’s opening, before the bottom opened up and dropped the load and I into the washer. Once I fell down into the washer on top of the dirty cloth diapers, the machine started the first soaking cycle. The tub filled up with warm water and then soap began to trickle in from another source. Then once the soaking cycle finished, the machine began to slowly agitate back and forth. The cloth diapers began to whiz around as they got closer and closer to the agitator. The diaper I was wearing was slowly getting cleaner and cleaner as the cycle continued. Then the soapy water drained away and then the warm rinse water began to fill the tub. By this time, my diaper and my entire body were now clean but what was this??? More chemicals came into the tub, mixing with the warm water. What was this stuff? It turned out to be a non-bleach whitener that was mixing with the warm water. Then another rinse cycle started and then the spin-cycle started. Once that was finished, the load and I got ejected from the washer onto a conveyor belt. The diapers and I were 96% dried now. As the diapers and I traveled further and further down the enclosed conveyor belt, the load was brought underneath a warm blow drier that dried the diapers the rest of the way. The diaper I was wearing was thus also dried the rest of the way. My body and hair were completely dried but now my hair looked like one of those pencil-top trolls after a couple of rounds of spins! (POOF!) As the load and I continued down the conveyor belt, the now clean and whitened cloth diapers were brought up to another sorting area where six sorters (three on each side) picked through the cloth diapers looking for any ALL-In-One styles that couldn’t be sent through this part of the process and any plastic pants that may have slipped past the other sorters. As the sorters poked and checked the diapers I was wearing, they also snagged and ripped the soaker pads of my diapers by accident leaving the thin layer of cloth to absorb anything before my diapers were to be shredded.

I was put back onto the conveyor belt and soon after, the loads and I dropped into a very deep hopper. At one end of the long hopper that resembled the hopper of a Lodal Trash truck, there was a shredder wheel and at the other end, there was a compactor or pressure blade that forced everything in the hopper, against the shredder wheel. As the hopper continued to fill up and I dropped into the hopper and landed on top of some cloth diapers while more and more diapers fell on top of me. Then, the conveyor belt paused abruptly and then the shredder wheel started up and then the compactor began to crush the loads of diapers and I up against the shredder wheel. I began to cry loudly thinking that this was the end of my life. Suddenly, the shredder blade raised up a little bit in the center while the two side blades stayed in their current position, allowing my body to slip underneath while the blades ripped, tore through and shredded the diaper I was wearing, RIGHT off of me! The loads of diapers disappeared like nothing as they were turned into little tiny versions of their former selves. The pieces of the diapers were then sent to a spooler to be spun into a fiber-like material that would then be blended with paper fluff and then once the composite materials were combined the Super absorbent materials were added as the composite fluff was put into the plastic back sheet of new recyclable, and flushable disposable diapers. While the shreddings of the diapers went one way, I was left in one of the many screens with a few of the shredded particles of cloth diapers that they could not use. I was left in there for about 15 minutes before someone whose job it was to check and empty the filters every 15 minutes; came to clean and empty out the filter. They opened it up and found me in there. The man standing there shook the filter out into a trash can and then he pulled my now naked body out of the filter compartment.

Filter maintenance man: Hey Jack, what am I supposed to do with this???? (Said the man as he held me up with both of his gloved hands)

Supervisor Jack: Leave him in that trash can you shook the filter in until I can call and ask what they want us to do with him.

The man then lowered me into the rolling 32 gallon trash can lined with a trash bag that already had quite a few unwanted cloth diapers with too many stains in them that could not be reused as the high quality fibers due to their conditions and were now on their way to the diaper recycling company’s diaper landfill or on their way to get flushed down one of the special *toilets. (*made exactly for flushing large amounts of cloth diapers)

While Jack made a couple of phone calls, I was left in the trash cans with some fuzzy leftovers of cloth diapers and some clean but stained cloth diapers that had been disposed of. I peeked over the plastic lined can’s edge and saw a woman wearing a printed pair of dark blue scrubs and had red hair standing over near Jack’s desk. Then a few minutes later, Jack and the woman came over to the trash can and Jack pulled me up and out of the can and then carried me over to a changing table before laying me down on it. He then walked back over to the trash can, took out six of the cloth diapers from in the can and brought them over to the changing table for the woman to use inside my next diaper as per HER request.  Then the woman reached over to a large box full of diapers that had a picture of a developmentally disabled man, laying in a crib-like bed, wearing one of the diapers, and took out one of the recyclable, flushable disposable diapers that had been made out of the shredded and recycled cloth pre-fold diapers and began to put it on me.

Woman with printed scrubs on: Hi there, I am going to be your diaper testing caregiver for a little while until we are done testing these diapers. Then, I think I am supposed to throw you and these diapers away. I am also allowed to take you and put you and your diapers into one of the special toilets and then flush you to see if these diapers really are flushable. I will decide which of the two disposal methods I will use with you later. But, for now, I am supposed to take you outside and let you go play around on our testing playground with 15 other “test subjects” wearing other styles of these diapers. Once you are wet, I will have to change you out there three times, saving the wet diapers for them to check on before throwing them into our “special diaper pail.” Once all of the test diapers from ALL of the test subjects are tossed into the pail, the last diaper you have on has to be put through the recycling process as a test. Then once you are done, I will bring you back here and get you diapered in these nice, soft and comfy old cloth diapers and one of these test diapers before I decide how I am to dispose of you!

Danny: PLEASE MISS! Don’t throw me away! I am NOT trash! I thought I was being recycled!

Woman with printed scrubs on: Sorry! I have to follow orders! I have NO CHOICE as to what is done with you! I am ONLY allowed to choose which way you get disposed of in. If I could choose what was done with you, I would bring you home and you’d be my little baby, but since I don’t own you, I can’t. I have to do what they tell me to with you!

OK…Off to the test playground now….

The woman finished putting the test diaper on Danny and then she grabbed him by the hand and then helped him waddle over to the playground where she let him go play until his diaper showed signs that it was soaking wet.

The woman in the printed scrubs then came over to where Danny was and then took his hand and brought him over to the picnic table where she laid him down on his back. Then she unfastened the tapes and then pulled the diaper down and then out from under me. Then she took out one of the other clean and folded test diapers from the stack that was already outside, and began to open it up and get it ready to put on me. Then she lifted my butt, expertly slid the back half of the diaper underneath Danny before she laid him down on the thick, bulky and VERY puffy fluff of the test disposable diaper. Then she pulled the front of the diaper up and then fastened the tapes on each side before she helped him back down to his feet and then let him go back to playing. The woman then tossed Danny’s first test diaper right into the special diaper pail without rolling it up so that the other technicians could do their tests on the diapers before they threw them all away or flushed them.

After another long round of playing and a bottle or two full of cold, fresh, whole milk, Danny’s diaper was again showing signs of sagging due to heavy wetness. The woman once again changed his diaper and then sent him back out for his last half hour of play before she was going to have to bring him back inside before she was going to have to send him through the diaper recycling process and a trial flushing with a bunch of the test diapers.

Danny played hard and ran around and got really, really dirty too! Then the woman came over, took him by the hand and told him that it was time to go back inside now.

Woman with the printed scrubs: OK time to come back in.

Danny: But I wasn’t ready to go!

Woman with the printed scrubs: OH...it’s time to get back to work…I have to do a trial flushing on you with you still wearing this diaper and then I have to put you through the disposable diaper recycling process! Now, I KNOW that this won’t be pleasant, but I have to put you into the diaper pail and leave you there so that the Flushing staff can receive you and these diapers so that they can flush you down one of their testing toilets.

Now, I have to leave you in this trash can with the diapers in it that has a locking lid…it’s so that you can’t escape. I will see you back here when they are done with you. Bye-bye for now.

The woman then lifts Danny up and puts Danny into the large can that has a lot of dirty unrolled disposable diapers in it and then closes and locks the lid. The smell is strong with the smell of pee. The lid opens again and fourteen more diapers are tossed in before the lid closes and is locked again. Then the lid opens again and 20 more diapers are tossed in. the lid was closed and locked again. The lid opened one more time but this time the diapers were pressed down to make room for the 30 more that were going into the can.

Then, once the 30 more diapers were in the can, the lid was locked and then there was silence except for the crinkling of the plastic backing of the diapers.

Shortly after the last load had been put into the can, the can began to roll and shake. It rolled for a while before it slowed then started rolling again then stopped.

Then the lid opened up and then the can tipped end over end and Danny and the diapers fell out onto the floor into a larger pile of other disposable diapers that were there to get flushed. Once the diapers were out of the can and in the pile, The man that had emptied the can took the empty can back to where it was, leaving Danny and the diapers in the pile. It wasn’t long before two women came over to where Danny was and pulled him out of the pile of dirty flushable disposable diapers.

Woman 1: Hi there little one. We are here to flush you and some diapers for a test. We have to see if your diapers will blow up when they are exposed to water or not. Since there are no gels in the diapers we think they won’t. Now I hope your diaper is wet because if it isn’t, it’s getting wet anyhow!

Woman 2: Just take the boy to the toilet and put him into it and then start loading the bowl with the test diapers already! GEES!

Danny: NO! PLEASE! Don’t! I don’t WANNA get flushed!!!!

Woman 2: TOO damned bad! YOUR diapers are ours and we are ordered to flush you! Now Get over here and co-operate or you will make this harder for us!

Then woman two began to wrench Danny by the right arm over to the toilet bowl where she picked him up and slowly inserted him feet first into the bowl with his feet part-way in the drain.

Woman 2: NOW! Sit RIGHT there and stay while we load the diapers in! This won’t take long!

Then three men began to take arm-loads of the test diapers from the pile and began to drop them into the bowl. As the bowl began to fill up, Danny started to get scared.

His disposable diaper was now soaking wet and the plastic crinkled loudly as he shifted his feet back and forth while waiting. Then one of the women handed Danny a large load of his own wet diapers to hold.

Woman 2: I want you to hold these until one of us closes the lids and locks them. Then its flushing time…..is there anything that you want to say before we do this?

Danny: Um where will this take me???

Woman 2: This will take you and the diapers to the next phase of diaper processing before they get dumped out into a large rolling cart. Once you are in there, you will be taken to get your diaper recycled. Then once that is done, we will turn you back over to your caregiver for one last diaper change. Then it will be up to her how she disposes of you. Guys! Hurry up and finish loading this toilet! There is still a little room in here for some more diapers!!!

Woman 1: (leaning down close to Danny so she can check his diaper) How is the water in there?

The woman pulls the waistband of Danny’s diaper back so that she can look inside of Danny’s diaper. Then she pulls him up and out of the water a little bit so that she can fully inspect the front of his diaper fully by inserting her fingers into the elastic leg holes and feeling the padding. Then she pushes Danny back into the water.

The three men drop a bunch of the test diapers into the water. Some of them are still folded and have not been used yet.

The second woman then lowers and then locks the special lids on the toilets before she hits the flushing lever. The toilet water begins to churn and forms a cyclone and water spout that begins to pull Danny and the diapers down into the drain. Danny and his diapers get sucked down the drain and into the pipes that are forcing Danny and all of the diapers through them at a high rate of speed and under a lot of pressure. Before Danny knows where he is, Danny and the load of diapers gets dumped out onto another conveyor belt. The belt begins to carry Danny and the soaking wet diapers to the next phase of the process. The conveyor belt carries Danny and the diapers to the sanitizing process. There are six nozzles spraying everything that passes through them with green and blue slimy gels that smell like strong baby lotion and baby powder.

Danny gets forced through and then he and his diaper get soaked with the sticky and thick and gloppy gels. The gels begin to dry quickly leaving little green and blue stains all over his diaper and completely staining his skin, turning it a dirty brown color.

Then Danny and the diapers get covered in some kind of grey powder that seems to stick to the gels and then foams up a lot before it bubbles and then dissipates. Then Danny and the diapers get dropped into another rolling trash cart quickly filling up with the diapers from the tests. Danny’s diaper is now filthy looking but smells like fresh baby powder and lotions. Danny now looks like he suddenly got a bad sun tan! Danny’s diaper is still nice and comfy but the wetness is almost gone. The powder has all but dried his diapers completely. Once the cart filled up with enough diapers, the cart was rolled away and out of the area and back to the recycling area. The cart was then left there and before too long the cart was tipped to the side and Danny and the loads of diapers fell out onto the conveyor belt. The belt took Danny and the diapers past the two sets of sorters who left him and the diapers alone so the belt could take him and the diapers to the disposable diaper processor.

The belt carried Danny and the diapers into the feeder of the disposable diaper shredder. Danny’s diaper was the first to get shredded and it was done quickly and without harm done to Danny. Danny passed through now completely naked and soon ended up at the end of the conveyor belt with the waste parts of the diapers that got shredded. About 20 minutes later, some one came to push the cart away and saw Danny in the cart covered with some of the waste. The woman pulled Danny out and then took him back to his caregiver so that she could diaper him. Danny’s caregiver laid Danny down on a changing table and then took one of the thickest and bulkiest new test diapers and began to open it up and get it ready to put on Danny. His caregiver then put in six thick layers of toddler sized cloth pre-fold diapers as extra absorbency into his already thick and bulky disposable diaper before she slid the diaper under Danny and then pulled the front up and fastened the tapes.

The woman with the printed scrubs on: OK little one, time to dispose of you. How should I dispose of you? Would you rather go into the trash and be taken to a diaper landfill or would you rather be flushed down a toilet with a bunch of cloth and flushable, disposable diapers? 

Danny: Do I…HAVE…to be disposed of? I don’t want to be.

The woman with the printed scrubs on: Make a choice or I will do it for you!

Danny: I won’t! I won’t be disposed of!!!

The woman with the printed scrubs on: Too late! I am going to dispose of you in the trash! Ok, up you go…there….now come with me…..

The woman with the printed scrubs takes Danny’s right hand and then drags him over to the section of the facility where the diapers that can’t be recycled and the rest of the trash, is disposed of. She then lifts him up and then pushes Danny into the almost full 96 gallon trash can and t hen closes and locks the lid. Then she dusts her hands together as she walks away.

5:00 pm comes around and the janitors take all o the diapers and the trash out to the back to await the trash truck. Danny’s can is rolled outside and left next to the five others that are full of diapers and old clothing that wasn’t recycled. At around 8 pm, the trash truck comes and stops to pick up the 96 gallon cans. The automated side loader truck picks each can up and dumps them with a robotic arm. Danny and the diapers get emptied into the hopper of the truck then the can goes back down and then two more of the cans are emptied before the truck goes to the next stop. As the truck is driving, the compactor is busy crushing Danny and the diapers into the container in the back of the truck with the rest of the trash.

The truck drives to the special diapers only landfill where it dumps its load. The loads of diapers and clothing fall out into a deep pit that already has tons and tons and tons of  diapers in it that have been there since 1973 to now. Danny tumbles down into the deeper part of the pit and then is covered with an avalanche of loose diapers and bags filled with diapers and old clothing.

The end.