Disposables sit in a landfill and wait to be decomposed, and cloth uses a lot of water for cleaning and sanitizing of the diapers. Which is better though for our Mother Earth? Here's what I've found on this subject.
Which causes the most Harm?
It is estimated that roughly 5 million tons of untreated waste and a total of 2 billion tons of urine, feces, plastic and paper are added to landfills annually. It takes around 80,000 pounds of plastic and over 200,000 trees a year to manufacture the disposable diapers for American babies alone. Although some disposables are said to be "biodegradable"; in order for these diapers to decompose, they must be exposed to air (oxygen) and sun. Since this is highly unlikely, it can take several hundred years for the decomposition of disposables to take place, with some of the plastic material never decomposing. Think of all those diapers that are still at the very bottom of the "freshly" used diapers. Way past what our parents were using on us, are still there, decomposing!
The untreated waste placed in landfills by dirty disposable diapers is also a possible danger to contaminating ground water. Also, I noticed on some disposable packaging they want you to dump your baby's poo in the toilet just like with the cloth diapers. Any type of feces and blood is not allowed to be in landfills. Taking the easy way out and just wrapping up the poo in with the diaper is suppose to be a big no-no! I didn't know this, and I'm sure most of you didn't either!
However, pro-disposable advocates say that cleaning cloth diapers uses more energy and contributes to the load on sanitary sewer systems and potential water pollution. This view really makes no sense if you think about it. The amount of water used per week to wash cloth diapers at home is about the same amount consumed by an adult flushing the toilet four or five times daily for a week. Also, the greater amount of water and energy being used by diaper service companies to wash large amounts of cloth diapers multiple times; the per diaper impact on energy and water supplies is actually less than home washing.
Finally, when flushing solids from a cloth diaper down the toilet and washing the diapers in a washing machine, the contaminated, dirty water from both toilet and washing machine go into the sewer systems where they are properly treated at wastewater plants. This treated wastewater is much more environmentally friendly than dumping untreated soiled disposable diapers into a landfill.
Some people also complain about the energy costs of the dryer, and how much that you are spending in electricity, so with my solution and what many other moms do, try to line dry your diapers. I do this with all my diapers, except with my Kushies brand AIOs, with those I line dry overnight and if they are still damp in the morning I throw them into the dryer for about 10-20min and they are dry; but most the time if I have enough diapers to use till then I just wait till they are completely dry. Line drying can also make the life of your cloth diapers last longer, and the sun acts as a natural whitener and a organic disinfectant. Since living in Oregon, we get more rain and clouds than sun it seems, so I actually have a drying rack that I bought at IKEA for only $10, and bought little plastic clothespin type things which I got more than I need for 99cents. I keep that in my bedroom for now and keep it semi near the heater so that they will dry quicker. I love it and has worked out perfectly for us so far!
The work load of laundry doesn't bug me at all and it isn't a burden to do the extra step in be a green mom. I actually enjoy doing laundry, and like the quiet time in hanging up every piece of bottom wear. I highly suggest stay-at-home mommies(or daddies) to give it a shot. Besides if you plan on having another baby in the future, you'll already have most of your collection ready for a newborn. You may have to purchase a few smaller diapers in the beginning, but most babies can fit into one size diapers after they are a month old or so. I'm really excited to try and grow my family a little more, just so that I can have the excuse to buy the super little diapers. :) But we'll see!.
With love,
Jess
Some people also complain about the energy costs of the dryer, and how much that you are spending in electricity, so with my solution and what many other moms do, try to line dry your diapers. I do this with all my diapers, except with my Kushies brand AIOs, with those I line dry overnight and if they are still damp in the morning I throw them into the dryer for about 10-20min and they are dry; but most the time if I have enough diapers to use till then I just wait till they are completely dry. Line drying can also make the life of your cloth diapers last longer, and the sun acts as a natural whitener and a organic disinfectant. Since living in Oregon, we get more rain and clouds than sun it seems, so I actually have a drying rack that I bought at IKEA for only $10, and bought little plastic clothespin type things which I got more than I need for 99cents. I keep that in my bedroom for now and keep it semi near the heater so that they will dry quicker. I love it and has worked out perfectly for us so far!
The work load of laundry doesn't bug me at all and it isn't a burden to do the extra step in be a green mom. I actually enjoy doing laundry, and like the quiet time in hanging up every piece of bottom wear. I highly suggest stay-at-home mommies(or daddies) to give it a shot. Besides if you plan on having another baby in the future, you'll already have most of your collection ready for a newborn. You may have to purchase a few smaller diapers in the beginning, but most babies can fit into one size diapers after they are a month old or so. I'm really excited to try and grow my family a little more, just so that I can have the excuse to buy the super little diapers. :) But we'll see!.
With love,
Jess
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