What do single-use nappies, the fight against slavery, and climate collapse have in common?
This question and a couple of social media posts by South African Science writer and environmental warrior Leonie Joubert, piqued my interest. The first one was: “There’s no pretty way to tell so foul a story. What’s the link between an Indigenous leader in communal grazing lands in South Africa, an NGO, #singleuse #nappies, cows, and #climatecrisis? Covering Climate Now #the89percent helped join the dots. How many soiled single-use nappies are chucked out each day? A shed-load!”
The second question on the same subject continued : “Back in the fight-against-slavery days, the abolitionists got a ton of flack for wearing clothes made of cotton that’d been picked by slaves. The reality is they didn’t have many options. Until the system changed, until slavery was abolished, and cotton farmers were forced by legislation to pay wage-earning labourers to do the work, those fighting slavery would have to use products made through slavery.
Here we are, three centuries later, and the economic system has allowed large corporates to become enormously powerful – more powerful than the voting public, because of their proximity to the halls of power, their ability to lobby government for policies that favour their profit margins.
As I sit down to write a story on #singleuseplastic #plastic #plasticpollution through the lens of #nappies, here’s a question I’ve put to big South African corporates (retailers, and nappy brands): what are you doing to uphold citizens’ constitutional right to a healthy environment?
We can’t blame a mum, living far out in the rural grasslands of the Eastern Cape, why she’s throwing her baby’s nappies into the veld – because the local municipality doesn’t collect her household waste; she can’t throw these nappies into her out-house toilet because it’ll fill up and be unusable very soon; there aren’t any reusable or biodegradable options selling at the local spaza shop or in the big retail chains in town.
Retailers and nappy brands could fill our shelves with affordable, sensible reusable nappy options… it’s that simple.
Nappy pollution in our communal grazing lands seriously compromise (sic) communities’ climate resilience. But one exciting project near Matatiele may be a lode star (sic) for how we tackle this pressing issue.”
Leonie is currently travelling the road to uncover stories and solutions to social and environmental challenges. To find out how the story above unfolds, follow her on Story Ark for longform articles on her discoveries and fascinating insights.
This piece was written for the June 2025 edition of Postscripts, Shamillah Wilson’s monthly round-up of what’s been happening in feminist circles, her work, and some recommended reading suggestions.
