Making A Difference One Bottom At A Time
With the concern about climate change, deforestation, toxic chemicals and a whole host of other environmental issues, isn’t it time we start to make a difference in our lives and the lives of our families. One of the biggest impacts on our environment is do to our most precious possessions, our babies. Diapering makes a huge impact on our environment. Both disposables and cloth diaper effect the world around us in different ways. So let us compare disposable and cloth diapers.
Disposable diapers are the third most common product in landfills today. One baby will contribute 1 ton of waste to the landfill. Many cities are having shortages of places to put there trash. No one wants a landfill in there neighborhood. In fact, Hawaii is running out of space for there trash. Honolulu has only one landfill remaining. Kauai’s only landfill is near capacity. A report titled Municipal Solid Waste in the United States: 2005 Facts and Figures showed that disposable diapers accounted for 3.6 million tons of waste and 1.5% of the total waste generation for that year. The report specifically mentioned that no significant recycling or composting of disposable diapers was identified in 2006. It takes up to 500 years for a disposable diaper to decompose. There are some one time use diapers that claim to be biodegradable, but for them to degrade they must be exposed to air and sunlight. This is highly unlikely to occur in a landfill. The manufacture of disposable diapers requires 80,000 pounds of plastic and 200,000 trees in a year just for the U.S. alone.
The U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission has received numerous complaints about single-use diapers. These include the DEATH of babies from suffocation and asphyxiation by the wood pulp stuffing, the plastic shell or the tape tabs. Putting a non-breathable synthetic next to your baby’s most sensitive and most intimate body area is also extremely uncomfortable. Single-use diapers are just fancy trash bags with a lining. Would you give your baby a plastic bag and say good-night? Your baby is in danger of suffocation when single-use diapers are left within reach. Your baby will be in diapers 24 hours a day for up to 3 years and deserves to be safe and comfortable. Many doctors claim there is a rise in infections, especially in baby girls, as parents tend to change single-use diapers much less often than cloth diapers. Single-use diapers don’t breathe well and don’t feel wet, increasing diaper rash as heat and moisture provide an excellent medium for bacterial growth.
The manufacturing of one time use diapers, produce many harmful chemicals that are released into the environment. In Taylor County, Florida the Fenholloway River had been polluted by effluent from Proctor and Gamble’s Buckeye pulp mill, which produces pulp for such products as Pampers® and Luvs® disposable diapers, Attends® incontinence pads, and Always sanitary napkins. A 1990 Environmental Protection Agency study that showed the Fenholloway had dioxin levels 1,900 times higher than what the agency considers an acceptable risk. There are many harmful chemicals in disposable diapers as well. The Rely® tampon, introduced in 1975 was removed from the marketplace because of the sometimes fatal Toxic Shock Syndrome associated with its use. These super-absorbent crystals are the same ones now being used in single-use diapers! What you put on your baby’s skin does make a difference. The following is an excerpt from the Pittman Post, a newsletter for parents and child-care providers: “Newborn infants are exposed to an average of fifty (50) different environmental chemicals through the use of skin products, according to a recent study published in Clinical Pediatrics. Because newborn skin has a poorly developed outer layer, chemicals are much more easily absorbed when compared to adult skin. This means a much greater risk of chemical poisoning. The authors believe that all over-the-counter skin products should be studied extensively for their possible hazards.”
Human waste in the land fills is another big problem facing us today .Not since the Middle-Ages has there been so much human waste in our garbage. There is NO safe way to dispose of single-use diapers. Flushing them down the toilet causes 95% of clogged sewer lines in the US, and creates 43,000 tons of extra sludge per year. Most people simply toss these soiled single-use diapers into household, hospital or roadside garbage. This adds 84 million pounds of raw fecal matter to our environment per year. Raw sewage is then dumped in landfill sites, breeding viruses and bacteria. As many as 100 viruses can survive in soiled diapers for up to two weeks, including live polio virus excreted by recently-vaccinated babies. According to Environment Canada, once in landfill sites – which are not designed to handle human waste – single-use diapers threaten the health of sanitary workers, water supplies and our wildlife.
Cloth diapers are a much better alternative to the diapering question. There is virtually no impact on our landfills. Cloth diapers can be used many times and for more than one child. They can be recycled and used as rags, burp cloths and a variety of different things. There is no end to what someone can come up with for other purposes for cloth diapers.
Many cloth diapers are organic and use no harmful chemicals in the process of manufacturing. It is comforting to know that what is against your babies skin does not have some invisible threat to there health. The natural fibers are breathable and do not cause overheating problems. Many doctors are concerned about infertility problems in males, do to improper development of the testicles, caused by over heating inside disposable diapers.
Now even if the carbon footprint is the same between cloth and disposable diapers, there is no comparison between the toxic chemicals and the waste produced by disposables. One of the problems today is everyone is focused on the carbon footprint, and ignore all the other factors such as chemicals produced and used to create these products. Let's not get caught up in the buzz words and forget about everything else. Now when you go to make your next purchase on baby diapers you have a lot of choices to make, but remember that the choice that you make affects a very little person who has no voice of their own.
