Abstract
Disposable diapers are indispensable to childcare and nursing care but most municipalities are incinerating these in spite of the fact that they contain large amounts of water, and this may cause a large environmental impact in terms of carbon dioxide emissions. An alternative disposal method recommends the water-absorbing portion of the diaper that consists of water-absorbing paper, pulp, and superabsorbent polymer would be designed to be separated after use and flushed down the toilet. The remaining diaper body, which hardly contains any water, could then easily be incinerated. To achieve this, it is necessary to make the superabsorbent polymer biodegradable. This paper outlines the research and development status of biodegradable superabsorbent polymers and briefly describes some specific examples based on polyamino acids and polysaccharides.
