Posted on 02/06/2009 9:22:57 AM PST by Domandred
Your baby needs lots of love and reassurance and, as every parent knows ... diapers. Wrapping a diaper around your baby's bottom is a routine chore — but is it a "green" one as well?
"Diapers solve a public health problem," says Chaz Miller, director of state programs for the National Waste Management Association. "They take feces and urine and create a safe environment for their deposition by incontinent persons. This option is far better than soiled pants or [pooping] in the woods."
That having been said, which is better for the environment: disposable diapers or the reusable cloth, wash-and-wear kind?
Britain's Environment Agency recently discovered that, believe it or not, disposable diapers ("nappies" as they're called across the pond) have a slightly smaller carbon footprint than washable ones — 550 kg versus 570 kg (1,212 versus 1,256 pounds) of carbon-dioxide equivalents over two and a half years of use.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I've generally noticed that people that comment on disposable diapers don't have kids, or they have "help" that takes care of the kids for them.
I told her once "tell you what, you take the baby for a week using cloth, and a week using disposable, then decide".
Anyways, turns out I'm greener anyways.
My HS English teacher would freak....lol
How green are disposable diapers?
Depends on long you leave them in the corner of your trailer.....( chuckle)
Kinda depends on what my daughters ate.
I’m about as far from “green” as you can get. As a matter of personal policy, I refuse to even use that word in conversation. I even called the city and demanded a refund for the recycle bin they made me buy cause I refused to use it. But, we used cloth diapers almost exclusively for our brood of four.
It wasn’t that bad and we saved untold thousands of dollars over the 12 years or so that we had a kid in diapers.
I think we figured less than $1.00 per week compared to about $10.00 for disposables.
Yes monetary benefits of cloth are much better, and that would be the one reason I’d switch. But since we only have one child and can afford disposable...
Did thee baby have strained peas for lunch?
That makes them green.
I used cloth and didn’t have anyone helping me but me. You wash them, hang them up to dry (if possible) and if not...put them in the dryer. Fold and put away. What is so darn hard about that??? They wash their own clothes don’t they?
I used disposable diapers up until my daughter was 6 weeks old and then used cloth only at home. The only time that I used disposables was when we went out. I kept only disposables in the diaper bag. After you get used to using cloth diapers, it’s not so bad. I did not use them to save the planet. I used them to save money.
when a disposable diaper is full it becomes like a politician totally useless but with cloth diapers that are no longer required there isn’t a better piece of cloth to polish your car
Ban bear poop in the woods!
Well, it depends on what the baby has been eating. Broccoli and Asparagus, sure. Sweet Potatoes, not so much.
... or your guitar. ;-)
Mrs WBill and I had noble notions of using cloth diapers with WBill Jr. Yeah right. That lasted until the first change.
On a related note, my grandmother told me about knitting diapers (called "soakers") for my Dad. It was during the war (wwII) and everything was in short supply.
I can't imagine hand-washing knit diapers. Yeeeeachk!
About 25 yrs. ago I saw a program on PBS discussing cloth diapers v. disposable diapers. The commentator said that if you lived in an area with landfill issues use cloth diapers. If you lived in an area where water was at a premium, then go with disposables. It made sense to me.
Soakers are not diapers. Soakers take the place of plastic overpants or the plastic outside coating on some disposables.
Wool can hold a terrific amount of moisture relative to its area/weight. Also, the combination of alkaline urine and frequent hot water washing or boiling, which was done back then pre-automatic washers, would eventually felt the soakers into something almost incapable of passing moisture through, although it would still absorb it.
I was a new mom at the time that there was one disposable diaper brand. It was very expensive and it leaked. There was a diaper pail. We put a little bleach water in it. We soaked the diapers, flushed that soak water down the toilet, washed them in hot water, soap and bleach and put them in the dryer. We did this 2x-3x a week for a year, or, in the case of boys, 18 months. Then, we forgot about it.
It is still being done today. Google wool soakers + babies. If you are over 45,or raised by hippies, someone probably did this for you.
Here's what makes sense to me:
Use what you prefer to use, and tell the PBS commentator to go fly a kite.
Still sounds like I'd prefer disposables, though. Especially this morning - double whammy. Diaper came loose in the night, and our youngest made an overly large deposit in it. Yick.
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