Disposal of placentas is a costly and troublesome undertaking. The numbers are vast. With around 720,000 live births per annum, and a full term placenta weighing around 0.45kg, that is a total mass for disposal in excess of 320 tonnes per annum as well as bloodstained disposable sheets, disposable instruments etc. 

Mums are doing their bit to reduce the amount of waste for disposal. For years, there has been a minority who wish to bury their placenta in the garden rather than consign it as waste. Indeed, some midwives have actively promoted that as an alternative to correct disposal though the motivation in some cases may be nothing more than laziness.

For many years a few mums, and unsurprisingly even fewer dads, have eaten their placenta. Recipes are available, sautéed placenta is perhaps the most common, with a variety of rather woolly explanations for its consumption. As we noted some weeks ago, commercial placenta preparations are now available, in capsule form, for those who want to eat their placenta but can’t quite take that last and perhaps for some rather gruesome step.

A nice little earner? A green alternative? It is also promoted a means to fight postpartum depression, by ingesting their placenta that is rich in pregnancy hormones. Pharmacologically, there might be something in this, but personally I think I’d prefer the rely on the pharmaceutical industry.