The Great Diaper Debate

Hey Mr. Green,

I've gotten conflicting information about whether cloth diapers are more ecologically correct than disposables. Cloth diapers require both water and energy to wash—two things California has in short supply. But disposables come from plastic, cotton, and trees, and clog our landfill. What's the most environmentally friendly thing a new parent can do?

--Carolyn in El Cerrito, California

You'll find the full answer to your question in the Jan./Feb. issue of Sierra magazine, but it wouldn’t be fair give away its exciting conclusions.

You do, however, provide a fine excuse for me to expound on the water question, which we didn't have room to address in the upcoming column. Most households waste so much water that they should focus on conserving it instead of worrying about how much it takes to wash diapers. Here's why:

The entire process of washing diapers from birth to the joyful day of completion of potty-training will take roughly 24,000 gallons. Sounds like a lot, but many households waste much more than that in three years simply by flushing inefficient toilets. In an arid climate, twice that amount can evaporate from an uncovered swimming pool of modest size.

The math: A typical newborn requires a change every two or three hours. If your baby needs to be changed on the more frequent side, that's around 84 changes a week, or 4,368 a year. Or about 8,736 for two years. Of course, as your bundle of joy matures, it’ll require less frequent changing. There’s considerable variation among young creatures, but it's fair to say that up to 9,000 changes may be needed. Assuming you can wash about 30 diapers per load, that's 300 loads. At 41 gallons per load, what the typical washing machine uses per wash, that's 12,300 gallons. Allow another 2,000 gallons or so for pre-soaking, if indeed you pre-soak. If you flush the creature's excrement down the toilet, you're looking at another 8,000 gallons, for our total of 22,000. You can cut your water use even more if you get one of those water-wise 28-gallons-per-wash machines—which you can easily afford with the money you'll save by not spending it on throwaways.

Besides efficient toilets, there are many other ways to offset water used to wash diapers: low-flow showerheads and toilets, dishwashers and washing machines operated at full capacity, and less water on lawns and ornamental plants. Almost a third of a typical household’s water use goes on lawns and plants, half of which gets squandered as runoff and evaporation from overwatering and inefficient irrigation systems. For useful advice about saving water, see the EPA's ideas here. Your tax dollars at work.

But don't be satisfied with confining your conservation efforts to your own household. It's high time we got a lot more political about water and pushed much harder for rules to curb waste both by households and agriculture. Getting back to your state, California now has a proposal for a bond to improve its water system, but I don't think it demands nearly enough basic water conservation. To learn more about this, click here.

And it's not just California that needs to cut its guzzling, as you can see when you fly across the country and look down at those huge green circles of pivot irrigation systems drawing massive amounts of water. As I've previously noted, more than 35 states now face serious water issues. For an overview of all sorts of water issues, I highly recommend a visit to the Pacific Institute’s Web site.

Comments

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[Rick Benson]

There is a lot of conflicting information about cloth diapers vs disposables but when you are talking about the impact they make many people believe they are about the same. Well that is not true. For one you can control the impact you are making with cloth diapers. You can sun dry them instead of using the dryer. This will save you lots of cash as well it being the best way to get rid of stains. Also you can re-use the water from your washing machine. We have ours drain into our garden. We use Thirsties Super Wash non-toxic, biodegradable, ordorless, colorless and no harmful enzymes. Also you can choose to buy organic cloth diapers. They use no pesticides on the crops. Now what I think is the most important issue of them all: Disposable diapers are made from several toxic chemicals that come directly in contact with your babies skin. So even if the impact on the planet is the same the impact on your child's health far out weighs any of the other factors.

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I am definitely bookmarking this page and sharing it with my friends.

[rbenson]

The Society Promoting Environmental Conservation (SPEC), The World-wide Home Environmentalists’ Network (WHEN), The David Suzuki Foundation, the provincial governments of B.C. and Manitoba (who have both imposed a green tax on “disposable” diapers in the form of PST), and many other organizations.

Why do all these organizations promote the use of cloth diapers over “disposables”? They have no financial interest in the matter. They are, in fact, only interested in THE TRUTH. These groups are interested in improving the environment for the benefit of living things and future generations of living things. This is a very noble, real and true pursuit. Why would they deceive or misinform us?
Answer: They wouldn’t!

So then, why is there so much confusion about this issue? Well, in 1989, in response to a major trend of consumers switching to cloth diapers, Proctor & Gamble decided to launch a multi-million dollar international advertising campaign. It was designed to cloud the issues and relieve the guilt of “disposable” diaper users. This campaign was wildly successful. Even though P&G was found guilty of false and misleading advertising as a result, they did regain their market share as misinformed consumers returned to “disposables” in droves. From more information about cloth diapers go to http://www.monkeybunz.com

[Zach Smith]

Disposable diapers are more ecologically friendly. If washing and drying it is your main concern, there are now washing machines that are far more energy efficient than the washers introduced in the past. Their dryers are equipped with moisture sensors to save so much energy. In comparison to using disposables, their manufacturing methods will leave a permanent mark on the surface of the earth. You can just imagine the mountains of disposable diapers sold in the market today.

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[Krissy Casters]

I currently use both cloth and disposables. However, I would like to try elimination communication with my next child. I would love to do EC and use cloth as a backup!

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Inspiring. The other challenge for purifying the mind is to live in a 10 sq m hut [10'x10' or 100 sq ft]. Then all 100 items in there would make you want to pare down even further. It seems hard to imagine, but if we could, we can see how peaceful it would be compared to what we normally do - hmmm ??? Why do we do this, anyway?!?

Thanks for bringing us to a modern day Walden Pond.

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Pregnant with #2 and planning on cloth diapering this time. Have been looking at Fuzzi Buns for a brand to try. Would love to win.so you can also use one size diapers ...thanks..............

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I'm happy that people can take the environmental thinking "outside the box" it into the clothes matters. We must give a great thought to everything we do in our house, garden and car, for a better world.

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I currently use both cloth and disposables. However, I would like to try elimination communication with my next child. I would love to do EC and use cloth as a backup!

[Markin Ambuh]

I hate washing diapers. I prefer disposable one.

[Josh Brandson]

as my friends said before, there are more efficient washers today. I have a washer that saves both energy and water,it's LG but I think every brand have those.

[Inya Kawin]

Disposable diaper is easier.

[Natural Baby Ideas]

We use both. Our primary mode of diapering is cloth, but for when we go out, night time, or when we're just lazy we use disposables. Not only are they WAY cheaper in the long run (even after electricity, water, etc costs), they are softer and better for the baby, which is the most important factor in my mind. Concerning the environment... eh. Things get thrown away. Landfills get filled with or without diapers.

For more discussions/articles on cloth diapers, go to http://www.naturalbabyideas.com/forum/category/cloth-diapers/

[Bob Brendon]

I like this page. I'll bookmark this so I can refer to it often.

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[Tiffany Schmuck]

Thank you so much for what you have done.It is really a helpful post.So many informative things here.Thanks.

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"Disposable diapers are more ecologically friendly."

I agree with you, and I believe if we all used these diapers our environment would improve dramatically. A little change for a HUGE result :-)

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As well as being more environmentally friendly, disposable diapers are so much more people friendly ;-)