Photo: Anjar Primasetra | Smithsonian
Researchers at Japan’s University of Kitakyushu exploring alternatives to concrete for building have cleaned and shredded dirty diapers to build a small, structurally sound house that kept 60 cubic feet of diapers out of landfills. After washing, sterilizing, drying and shredding the 200 diapers, they mixed the bits in different ratios with gravel, water, sand and cement to create concrete and mortar and then, when cured, tested them to see how much pressure they could withstand. They calculated how much sand they could replace with diaper shreds and still meet Indonesian building codes. For the complete, single-story, 387-square-foot home, crews could replace 8% of the total sand in the concrete and mortar with diaper shreds. But while it demonstrates the idea is feasible, the concept is far from ready for prime time.
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