Nobody would be able to tell that dozens of colorful flower pots and a trash cans in front of a house in Torongrejo in Batu, East Java, are made of used diapers.

Their creator, 43-year-old Rudi Eko Prasetyo, told The Jakarta Post on Saturday that he began upcycling baby diapers into flower pots and garbage cans in 2017. 

"I was concerned about the number of used baby diapers I would collect from the river every time there was a community clean-up event," Rudi said.

Believing in a myth common across Java that burning used diapers will cause someone to contract suleten (impetigo), burning them was not an option for Rudi. He believes that is also one reason why many people throw used diapers into the river.

Data from the Batu Environment Agency show that the city produced 1 ton of diaper waste per day in 2017.

Environmentalists cleaning up the Brantas River in 2017 claimed that disposable diapers accounted for 80 percent of the waste they found in the river, which is the second-longest river on Java.

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