We've all been in them and many of us will have to use them when we become parents. Most people know that diapers are not a cheap necessity, but what some people might not know is that there is a second option. Reusable cloth diapers are more environmental-friendly and you can save money by using them! I am aware that by using cloth diapers, a parent will need to use more water to wash the diapers. But, a few environmental reasons for choosing cloth diapers over disposable diapers are :
- 1 billion trees are destroyed in one year to make disposable diapers. That's 4.5 trees per child.
- It takes between 250 and 500 years for a diaper to decompose.
- 18 billion disposable diapers are used in the U.S. each year. That's enough to stretch to the moon and back 9 times!
- Diapers are the third largest single consumer item in landfills.
- When a parent uses cloth diapers over disposable diapers, 1 ton of garbage is being conserved for that baby
- You will either use 7,000 disposable diapers or 80 cloth diapers
- A disposable diaper is used for 2 hours, a cloth diaper is used for 3 years
Miranda
5 comments:
When my children were babies we used cloth diapers supplied by a diaper service. It was easy and as convenient as diaper changing can get. We just couldn't bear the thought of throwing away all of that diaper material and the plastic surrounding them, either. A disposable diaper is also a very humid environment. That translates into a breeding ground for bacteria and a baby with a rash or other skin problem.
The other issue of concern is all of that untreated human waste going into landfills and eventually our water supply. And don't think "Ah, its just a tiny baby." Those cute, tiny babies are poop factories that only get bigger. The environmental impact is not insubstantial.
Great issue to consider!
Thea J.
Not only does disposable diapers coast a lot to buy, they are hard to tell weather the baby is wet or not. I think cloth diapers would be better because you could tell if the child is wet and cut down on the bacteria. We would also help save the trees.
This is a great issue to consider when you have children or are thinking about ever having children.
W
My best friend is actually just getting ready to have a baby and I don't think any of us thought of this issue until now. Not only would she save a ton of money by using cloth diapers, she would also help save the environment! This was a great issue to talk about and I'm sure a lot of people are learning some things they never really even thought about before.
Briana
As this may be a very good idea for some parents, I know first hand how demanding it can be. When I first had my daughter I stayed at home for the first month or so and I used cloth diapers about 99% of the time, and they worked great. But they became very very inconvient as i went to school and work! Not only was it difficult for her sitters to have to deal with them, it became difficult to keep up on washing them. I do agree with the comment about diaper rashes because my daughter didn't get them nearly as often when she was in cloth diapers! But the cloth diapers didnt last nearly as long as they are sposed to, after about three weeks of washing i had to get new ones, and they aren't cheap!
We also used cloth diapers on our children. It seem so much better then having diapers in a trash can in my house.. No need to make my house a breeding ground for bacteria with a toddler on the lose.LOL.
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