When it comes to protecting the health of their baby and our environment, parents agonize over an array of diaper choices. For the last 20 years, the debate over cloth or disposable diapers has not yielded a clear conclusion as to which is better. Disposables create enormous amounts of trash, comprising 2 percent of landfill waste. Cloth diapers are water- and energy-intensive to clean. In the meantime, diaper companies have come up with new products to improve the safety and lessen the environmental impact of diapers. Here are some of the improvements they have made:
Chlorine-Free Disposable Diapers: For parents who choose the convenience of disposable diapers, eco-conscious companies like Seventh Generation now produce diapers and wipes that are not bleached with chlorine, a process that releases harmful chemicals into the environment. These diapers are also free of fragrances and latex. Other companies that make chlorine-free diapers are Tender Care and Tushies, which both claim to use non-chlorine bleached wood pulp from sustainable forests, and Mother Nature, which uses no chemical binding agents. Tushies claims to be gel-free, meaning it does not use SAPs (super-absorbent polymers) present in the other brands. Nature Boy & Girl is a Swedish brand made of GMO-free cornstarch rather than plastic and is compostable.
Cloth Diapers, New and Improved: One of the benefits of using cloth diapers is that they do not end up in landfills, and this is a big deal for the environment. Disposable diapers – even the chlorine-free kind – will take 500 years to decompose, due to the plastic in the filling. Each baby uses about 6,500 diapers, creating over 2 tons of waste in the first two years of its life. Cloth diapers are washable and reusable, and a baby needs only 30-70 for its entire diaper-wearing career. Complaints that cloth did not absorb as much as disposable have been addressed by improved, thicker cloth, now available in organic cotton. Diaper services offer the convenience of pick-up, cleaning, and delivery. The downsides are that for proper sanitation, they may use harsh chemicals and extra water for rinsing; plus diaper services burn fossil fuels delivering clean diapers.
Flushable Diapers: An innovative company called gDiapers has hybridized the cloth and disposable models by creating a cotton outer pant with a fully biodegradable insert, which is safe to flush. They are plastic-free and break down in less than 150 days. They are even compostable (not the poopy ones). The benefit of flushables is they do not end up in a landfill, where even a biodegradable diaper would not break down due to lack of oxygen. Flushing also allows feces and urine to be processed through the wastewater treatment system. These diapers are quite pricey, but signal that new alternatives are possible with a little innovation and eco-smart thinking.
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