Cloth Diapers Are Better For The Environment

According to the Sustainability Institute, eighty percent of the diaperings in the United States are done with disposables. That comes to 18 BILLION diapers a year, just in the U.S. alone! These throw-away diapers require thousands of tons of plastic and hundreds of thousands of trees to manufacture. After a few hours of active service, these used diapers are trucked away, primarily to landfills, where they sit as neatly wrapped packages of excrement, entombed or mummified, undegraded for several hundred years. The idea of a "disposable" diaper is a myth; the ramifications of which will stay with us for centuries to come. They are the third largest single product in the waste stream behind newspapers and beverage containers. The urine and feces in disposable diapers enter landfills untreated, possibly contaminating the ground water supply. When you consider the unnecessary depletion of our valuable forests, the huge volume of garbage created, the toxic air and water pollution, and the potential health risks to children, it is very difficult to comprehend how washing and reusing cloth diapers could ever be considered an inconvenience. They are a rewarding investment all around - a financial investment, an investment in our children’s health, and an investment in our planet.