Why Go Cloth?

Environmental Issues

There has been much debate over the impact of disposable diapers and cloth diapers on the environment. The pro-disposable diaper advocates say that the extra water used to wash cloth diapers is just as much of an abuse to the environment as the production and disposal of disposable diapers. But taking into consideration the following estimates you will probably agree that disposable diapers are much more harmful to the environment than cloth diapers.

• Every child adds about 6500 disposable diapers to our landfills.
• Disposable diapers have little to no recycling potential and the long term effects of them on the environment remain unknown.
• Disposable diapers can take up to 500 years to decompose.
• One baby can produce up to 2 tons of landfill waste using disposable diapers.
• Harsh bleaches and cleaning agents used at diaper services can cause damage to the environment.
• The amount of water used to produce disposables greatly outweighs the amount used by commercial and residential launderers of cloth diapers.
• Disposal of human waste in residential garbage is technically prohibited and instructions on disposable diaper packaging recommend that you shake out any fecal matter into the toilet before disposing of it.
• Viruses found in feces (including immunizations that can live up to 2 weeks in fecal matter) can pose a threat to our water supplies and wildlife.
• Each baby in disposable diapers consumes 4.5 trees (Based on only 2 years in diapers.)
• 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.
• The untreated waste placed in landfills by dirty disposable diapers is also a possible danger to contaminating ground water. 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.
• An estimated 18 billion single-use diapers are thrown in landfills each year, taking as many as 500 years to decompose, and commonly contain raw, untreated sewage.
• Disposable diapers make up the third largest source of solid waste in landfills, after newspapers and food and beverage containers.
• It takes upwards of 82,000 tons of plastic and 1.3 million tons of wood pulp, or a quarter-million trees, to manufacture the disposable diapers that cover the bottoms of 90 percent of the babies born in the US.
• Single-use diapers use 3.5 times as much energy, 8 times as much non-renewable raw materials, and 90 times as much renewable material as cloth diapers.

In a world with an expanding population, landfills nearing full, and increasingly limited available resources, the need for conservation in day-to-day activities becomes much more evident.

Health Concerns

• Disposable diapers have been linked to asthma. Harsh perfumes and chemical emissions have long been known to induce asthma-like symptoms in children and adults. Now, researchers have found that disposable diapers might be a trigger for asthma. A study published in the October, 1999 issue of the Archives of Environmental Health found that laboratory mice exposed to various brands of disposable diapers suffered increased eye, nose, and throat irritation, including bronchial-constriction similar to that of an asthma attack. Six leading cotton and disposable diaper brands were tested. Cloth diapers were not found to cause respiratory problems among the lab mice. Of the brands tested, three diaper brands were found not to affect the breathing of the lab mice: American Fiber and Finishing Co., Gladrags organic cotton diapers, and Tender Care disposable diapers.
• The increased use of single-use diapers may explain the increase in male infertility over the past 25 years, suggests a study in the Archives of Disease in Childhood. The research shows that single-use diapers lined with plastic significantly increase the temperature of the scrotum when compared to the scrotal temperature of boys using cloth diapers. Temperature is critical to normal testicular development and sperm health. The authors of the study conclude that a prolonged increase in scrotal temperature in early childhood may therefore have an important role in subsequent testicular health and function, with implications for male fertility.
• Nearly all single-use diapers have toxic chemical present in them. Most use sodium polyacrylate to absorb moisture. Sodium polyacrylate is the same sort of substance that was used in Rely tampons in the mid-1980s. Many consumers notice clear beads of gel on their baby's genitals after a diaper change. This material is sodium polyacrylate.
• An additional serious concern is the risk that dioxin, a by-product of the paper-bleaching process, may exist in single-use diapers. Dioxin in various forms has been shown to cause cancer, birth defects, liver damage, and skin diseases.
• "Dry" does not mean "clean.” The multinational corporations who manufacture single-use diapers have misled the American consumer to believe that as long as a baby is dry, that they are clean. The urine in a wet diaper breaks down into ammonia and is a breeding ground for harmful bacteria regardless of how dry it feels.
• Whatever kind of diaper you use, cotton or disposable, babies should be changed often… about every two hours!
• Bacteria begin to form as soon as a child wets or soils, and leaving a diaper on a baby for prolonged periods can not only produce irritation and rash but may compromise the skin to the point of serious infection.
• The chemical dryness of single-use has produced a great lowering of standards in baby care because parents are led to believe that as long as the diaper feels dry, it's all right to leave on. It isn't. Chemicals are not a substitute for the attention babies need, and "set-and-forget" diapering is not healthy.
• The greatest concern for parents is to keep their baby’s skin dry, healthy and free from diaper rash. Many things can cause diaper rash. Prolonged wetness, lack of air circulation, soap, chemical and dye allergies, ammonia formed by bacteria that interacts with urine left sitting against the skin and the growth of microbes in the diaper area can all be irritating and cause rashes. According to the Journal of Pediatrics, 54 % of one-month old babies using disposable diapers had rashes, 16 % having severe rashes. A study done by a disposable diapers manufacturing company (we won’t name the company, but its one of the largest manufacturers) shows that the incidence of diaper rash increased from 7.1% to 61% with the increased use of throwaway disposable diapers.

Keep in mind that each baby is different; some parents will find their baby does perfectly fine with disposables while other parents may find their baby has some type of reaction to disposables. On the other hand cloth diapers can cause rashes by not being changed enough or properly cleaned and sanitized after becoming soiled.

It is all a matter of personal preference, how your baby is reacting to a particular diaper and how you feel about other factors that come into play when deciding between cloth and disposables.

The best way to prevent diaper rash is to change diapers, cloth or disposable, frequently. While disposable diapers can hold large quantities of urine, this slight wetness is still against your baby’s skin, which can lead to rashes. Cloth diapers should be changed every time your baby wets and then the diaper should be properly cleaned so all bacteria that may be in the cloth is killed.