Eco-friendly Diapers

Which Diaper is Best?

 

It’s not a pleasant thought.  Changing diapers or nappies is no one’s favourite task.  But do you choose disposable or re-usable? It is arguably the most important decision parents could make for the environment and their young children, who are in diapers around the clock for upward of two years.

There’s a lot of conflicting results from studies, and a fair bit of mis-information too in the industry.  Let’s compare them.

Disposable, single-use diapers

An average baby will use about 5,000 diapers before being potty-trained.  They are single use, and so most of them will end up in landfills, where they can take up to 500 years to decompose.  Some studies indicate sperm count issues in later life, however there is no conclusive evidence that disposables are harmful to babies. They are manufactured with plastic, wood pulp and chemicals.  They use more raw materials and use more energy to manufacture than cloth nappies because they are single-use.  They offer greater convenience, and more absorbency than cloth nappies, but are more expensive.

Cloth nappies 

Cloth nappies are normally made from cotton and because they are re-used they use fewer resources to create.   However, they need to be washed between uses; they not as convenient, nor do they offer the same absorbency.   Again, there is no conclusive evidence that harmful chemicals remain on cloth nappies after washing. They tend to be considerably more cost-effective than disposable diapers.  They can used again for further babies.

Alternatives

Diapers
Diapers
  • Some disposable brands are chlorine-free.
  • Some manufacturers now offer bio-degradeable disposable brands, which seem like a good solution.  However, if they are placed in an airtight landfill, they will not biodegrade, according to the California Integrated Waste Management Board.
  • Some brands (such as gdiapers) offer a mix of cloth nappies with a liner which can be flushed down the toilet where it will degrade, or used for garden compost.  Their absorbency is not quite as high as disposables, the costs are about the same as disposables, they are a little less messy than cloth diapers, and will result in increased load on our sewers, and increased water consumption (due to laundering the cloth nappies anyway, as well as flushing the liners down the toilet),
  • Cloth diapers can be messy, so there are Diaper Services available who will do the work for you.
  • Cloth diapers are now available in organic cotton, bamboo, hemp, etc.

What Should I Use?

The choice is yours.  From an environmental point of view, cloth nappies seem to be the way to go – you reduce your demand for new stuff, you re-use them for other babies, and you can recycle them afterwards.

But occasional disposable diapers or Gdiapers will offer convenience and greater absorbency for when longer periods between changes are required.

 

Resources: 

How to use cloth diapers

 

 

 

 

Photo Credit: Microsoft / Fotolia

 

 

 

 


Tags

cloth nappies, diapers, disposable diapers, eco-friendly diapers, eco-friendly nappies


  • I sell baby items on consignment at our local cloth diaper store. I am amazed at the types of diapers available nowadays. And no more pins either!! They now have these cute little plastic things that just hook onto the cloth.

    Disposables are more absorbant but the flip side of that is the child in the cloth wants to get out of them quicker so there’s more incentive for potty training if you use cloth.

    Peggy Larson

  • It seems that there is a movement here in Northern California to use more Nappies as you call them.
    Scott Sylvan Bell

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