In Hokkaido, child care centers take on responsibility for diaper disposal

Disposing of used diapers at child care facilities rather than having parents take them home has been a focus of attention recently.

In Hokkaido, public nursery schools in urban areas have been switching to allowing disposals at their facilities. Some private facilities and municipalities that had been asking parents to take diapers home are also switching to allowing disposals, while those that still do are debating the change due to hygiene considerations and a desire to reduce the burden on parents.

“From the standpoint of preventing the spread of viruses, disposals at facilities are ideal,” one expert said.

Until July, Nursery Smile, a licensed child care center in Sapporo's Shiroishi Ward, had been asking parents of the 11 enrolled children to take used diapers home so they could monitor the frequency of urination by children. But it changed the policy and began disposing of diapers in August.

"When we saw the parents taking diapers home during the heavy snowfall last winter, we felt that it would be better to dispose of them at the nursery even if we would be asking parents to pay for disposal,” said Ai Ogawa, 49, head of the facility.

After examining the disposal method and the balance of disposal fees, the nursery decided to charge ¥100 per month for diaper disposal. Between three and six diapers per child are disposed of each day, which requires a 20-liter trash bag a day. The number of times a child urinates is communicated to parents in writing on notebooks they exchange with the nursery.

The parents have welcomed the change, according to the nursery. A 34-year-old woman from Atsubetsu Ward, whose 1-year-old son attends the nursery, said, “It had been hard to take diapers home, as I have to take the subway and the bus to get to and from the nursery, so it’s great.”

Osaka-based Baby Job, a venture company that provides child care support services, conducted a telephone survey of public nursery schools nationwide in February and March regarding the disposal of diapers. According to the survey, 24% of municipalities in Hokkaido were asking parents to take diapers home, the 12th lowest rate among all prefectures. The COVID-19 pandemic has added momentum to reviews of diaper disposal policies as a measure to prevent infections, the company said.

In Sapporo, all 23 public nursery schools in the city at the time had switched to diaper disposals by 2007.

According to the city’s child care support division, this was because paper diapers had become the norm and parents increasingly felt that taking diapers home was a heavy burden. “The number of licensed child care centers that ask parents to take diapers home has been decreasing every year,” an official at the division said.

The cities of Kushiro and Obihiro have also abolished the diaper take-home policy at public nurseries for the same reason.

The city of Asahikawa and the town of Teshio changed to disposals at facilities in 2017 and in April this year, respectively, in consideration of hygiene. The town of Takasu did the same in June last year to reduce the burden on nursery staff and parents.

The town of Ashoro, which currently has a take-home policy in place, says it is “weighing up disposals at nurseries in consideration of the burden on parents and the prevention of infectious diseases.”

On the other hand, some municipalities continue to ask parents to take diapers home due to a lack of storage space and other reasons.

“Disposals at nurseries are ideal, but there are problems with storage space, costs and limited garbage collection days,” an official from the town of Wassamu explained.

The city of Utashinai stated, “We can't leave them at nurseries for days because of the smell and for sanitary reasons.”

Hirofumi Ohnishi, 52, professor at the Department of Public Health at Sapporo Medical University, pointed out, “Changing diapers poses the risk of ‘fecal-oral infection,’ in which various viruses in the stool, including the coronavirus, enter the body through the mouth.

“From the viewpoint of preventing the spread of infections, it is preferable to refrain from carrying used diapers and instead dispose of them at child care facilities,” he said.

Take-home policy opposition

In a survey of parents by the Hokkaido Shimbun's child-rearing website Mamatalk, 60% of respondents were negative about taking used diapers home from child care facilities.

The survey was conducted online from July 13 to 20, with 113 parents in their 20s to 50s responding.

Of the total, 68 gave negative answers regarding the take-home policy. Many cited hygiene issues, including a 35-year-old parent from Sapporo who said, “They are unsanitary and become luggage, so they should be disposed of at child care facilities.” A 38-year-old respondent from Asahikawa said, “I am tired from work, and it is hard to take diapers home.”

Many of the respondents were positive about bearing the cost, with one 44-year-old from Sapporo saying, “It would be helpful if they could dispose of diapers even for a fee.” Another parent, a 31-year-old from Rumoi, said, “Parents would agree if they were charged separately from the day care fees.”

Eight respondents said that taking diapers home was “a matter of course” or “can’t be helped.” As for their reasons, a 37-year-old from Kushiro said, “I have no complaints because that way I would know how many diapers are left at the facility.” A 31-year-old from Tomakomai said, “I don't feel any discomfort because I used to take them home at my previous facility.” Thirty-seven respondents either did not describe the issue or said it was a “difficult question.”

Asked if they are currently taking diapers home, 80 respondents, or 70%, said they weren't, while 30 respondents, or 27%, answered that they were. Three respondents answered “other” because their children had outgrown diapers.

This section features topics and issues from Hokkaido covered by the Hokkaido Shimbun, the largest newspaper in the prefecture. The original article was published Aug. 26.