http://www.care2.com/greenliving/cloth-or-disposable-diapers.html
Cloth or Disposable Diapers? A Moot Point? The Best Choices
By Annie B. Bond
Since 95 percent of parents put their children in plastic diapers, it seems a bit of a moot point to analyze which choice is better or worse for the environment.
It is unlikely that people will revert to hand washing diapers, no matter what the answer. The convenience of disposables, combined with busy lives, is too good of a help to pass up, especially because it is hard to keep a child over the age of one dry in cloth diapers.
It is reassuring, in a way, to note that in fact, the answer to the question is a muddled and confusing draw, according to most experts. On the one hand cloth diapers take a lot of water and detergent to wash, plus cotton that is usually grown with pesticides. On the other, disposable diapers are very resource-intensive using trees, plastics, and they take up enormous amount of landfill space. Even the Sierra Club considers the answer to the diaper debate a wash.
What isn’t a moot point, however, is which brand of disposable diaper you choose, for the health of your baby, and the health of the planet in which your baby will grow. If you choose disposable diapers, here is our recommendation:
Dioxin is a deadly byproduct poison that is created when the materials used to make diapers are whitened with chlorine. Direct links have been associated between dioxin exposure and cancer, birth defects, and reproductive disorders.
Tributyl tin (TBT) is biocide used in paper mills that is extremely toxic to wildlife, and according to The Green Guide Institute, in 2000, Greenpeace Germany found TBT in eight brands of disposable diapers that had been tested in Germany.
Seventh Generation’s chlorine-free disposable diapers are made with materials that have not been bleached with chlorine, and therefore do not contribute to dioxin in the environment. They also are free of TBT, fragrance, and latex, a common sensitizer.
Link on this resource to locate Seventh Generation diapers near you.
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43 comments
add your comment »I cloth...
I do not see how My 1 load a week is going to cause more harm then sposies...when you think about all that goes into them...the trees, oil, chemicals...I dont trust the studies and will stick with my gut.
Oh and I line dry and hand wash...it takes much less water that way.
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I personally do not like to flush money down the toiler. I also know that money could be used better then spent on tossing daipers. As far as whiting the diapers...There is safe ways to do it.
This past year a friend of mine had two children in diapers when they had a fire and her husband left her. No money, when he left her. She went to a free give away and they gave her four diapers. Two per child. They said that they do need donated dispoable diapers. That troubled me, so I took care of the children I made them diapers out of clothes that were no longer going to be worn. Maybe it had a large hold. Anyways, They turned out great, so I started making and donating those. This way those in need, do not need to keep needed to find ways to get the diapers.
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I saw the comment about earth baby diapers which MUST be composted by a service. gDiapers are a fantastic eco alternative. The can be flushed (albeit a learned technique), trashed, or composted in your own bin (I have done it). Plus they are kind of cute, I use cloth mostly but find gDiapers great for travel.
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cloth THEY R GET 2 HIGH IN STORES BUY CLOTH IT UR BABY WORTH IT
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There is an alternative... please check out Earth-baby. com. They are currently only servicing the south bay, but their diapers are great and completely bio-degradable.
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I've yet to see any research that compares the one use disposable to the multiple use/two or more children cloth diaper. I used the same diapers for three children.
I usually only did one load of diapers a week in the washing machine. I also crocheted my diaper covers and they were hand washed and air dried. Using natural wool, I didn't have to wash the covers every change.
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Thank all of you new mothers who are going back to cloth. As a 67 yr old mother with adult children 38 & 40, I used cloth. Paper diapers were out there and I used them the first month on the youngest cause the oldest was still in cloth, but she was allergic to them, hence back to cloth. Life was difficult and cloth diapers were line dried due to dryer electric cost; laundering diapers every day. Over the years with paper/plastic diapers taking over I have been extremely concerned about the health/environment effects of landfill diapers, specially from sick or diseased (Aids) children. To put contaminated body fluids in landfill is unhealthy due to pollution and also the wildlife that scours the landfills. We also know that dogs will devour the contents of a diaper in the trash. With this website so exclusively environmental friendly, I am amazed Care2 does not push more for cloth diapers. If I had a choice today, it would be cloth again.
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We used EC too (and hope to do a better job next time). Cloth is always going to be better than disposables to help with this.
For those Australian members, Reusable Nappy Wk is on - come along and look at the options available - its not that much more effort than disposables (and saves the emergency dashes to the shops for replacements) and its certainly more fun if you go for soft, cuddly, cute bottoms.
www.reusablenappyweek.com.au
I should say I am part of the voluntary, non profit parent group running the week.
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it seems amazing that cloth diapering has become so complicated! it is as simple as using something to absorb urine and feces (a deftly folded piece of cotton flannel will do nicely...think of recycling well worn work shirts or terry towelling) and some kind of moisture barrier! even old-fashioned "rubber pants" can be re-used for years...making them a reasonable low-cost, low tech, low impact choice. we have used cloth for both of our children, with no rash problems or high $$$ fancy systems. the drawback may be that most baby/toddler clothing is cut for tiny disposable diapers...
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I love gdiapers when I am on the go! They are super easy and flush good in those "suck like a black hole" potties! at home I use cloth! I recommend Fuzzi Bunz pocket diapers!! Cloth diapers are better for your pocket, the environment, and your babies little bottom!!
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