greenliving What’s Best
for Baby’s Bottom CLOTH MAKES A COMEBACK
most parents who opt for home laun- dering will spend a total of between $400 and $1,700 for diapers, laundry supplies, water and electricity to get baby from birth through toilet train- ing; disposables can run up to $2,500. (Click on the Cloth Diaper Resources link at
DiaperDecisions.com for a help- ful cost comparison guide.) Organic cotton diapers, the ulti-
mate green choice because they help reduce pesticide use, are also more expensive than conventional cotton diapers, which is why budget-minded parents often elect to buy gently used diapers. Conventional cotton is consid- ered an environmentally wasteful crop to grow (though its effluents are far less hazardous than those from the plastic, pulp and paper industries), so green diapers are frequently made of hemp or bamboo, natural fabrics that feel soft against baby’s skin.
Best for Mother Earth and Baby
Saving dollars is a key concern for most families, but caring parents’ need to both protect baby’s health and preserve the quality of the planet
M
illions of new parents in the 1960s thought they had found the answer to their prayers in
the mess-free convenience of dispos- able diapers. Sales of Pampers, Huggies and other brands continued to soar during the following decades. Sadly, so did a host of related problems: tons of soiled plastic diapers that could poten- tially contaminate groundwater packed the nation’s landfills; infant health concerns surfaced, including rashes, allergies and new respiratory and immune system worries; and delayed toilet training became an issue. In more recent years, a growing number of parents have determined that the greenest, healthiest and most economical way to cover baby’s bot- tom is with cloth, and new products are truly innovative.
24 NA Pensacola/FWB Emerald Coast Not Your Nana’s Nappies
Today’s “smart cloth” reusable diapers sport snaps, buttons and Velcro, rather than pins, and include a naturally absorbent liner (often made of organic cotton or hemp fleece) under the cover. Much preferred over the rubber over- pants of older products, these leaner, greener nappies use water-resistant covers of merino wool, nylon or polyurethane laminate that don’t leak, sag or smell (admittedly, even the use of smaller amounts of manufactured fabrics still isn’t perfect). Some diapers combine the liner and cover into one washable unit.
Cloth diapers cost more upfront than disposables—they range from $6 to $18 each—but offer long-term savings. According to the Sierra Club,
www.emcoast.naturalawakeningsmag.com
The greening of baby diapers has not yet translated to adult diapers, although longer-lasting brands available online cut down on the volume of trash (see
Caring.com/articles/adult- diapers-waste). Japan’s answer is to convert used adult diapers into an alternative heating fuel.
for their children are of equal impor- tance. Yet, according to the National Geographic Society’s Green Guide, 95 percent of U.S. families still use dispos- ables, which get sent to municipal land- fills in the amount of 3.5 million tons per year. Along with the diapers goes
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