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Some advantages

• Most babies who use cloth diapers have no diaper rashes.  For the few who do, I've heard many stories of their success in eliminating rashes simply by switching to wool covers.  Wool covers "breathe" and don't hold in the heat like disposable diapers and other types of plastic covers.  Put your hand on the bum of a baby who uses cloth with wool covers and you will never feel that heat, even in the summer.
• Babies who fall down don't hurt their tail-bone if using cloth diapers.  Padding in sensitive areas can be really nice when you're learning to walk.  (I intended for this statement to be funny, but actually Becky did fall on her bottom without a diaper on once and she cried and looked so surprised that it hurt without the padding to cushion the fall!)
• Disposable diapers often contain things like tolune, xylene, ethylbenzene, styrene, and isopropylbenzene, among other chemicals. These gases found to come from disposables in laboratory studies produced asthma symptoms and may be a danger to your baby and other household members.
• Save money:  Even if you choose fitted diapers instead of prefolds, cloth is still cheaper than disposable diapers (the per-diaper cost for each use of a disposable is about 25 cents, versus 7-9 cents for a cloth diaper laundered at home and 13-17 cents for a cloth diaper from a diaper service).
• It is easy to notice changes in your baby's health and hydration when using cloth diapers.  With disposables, if you can't tell the diaper is wet, you may miss changing health signals such as more frequent urination (or other changes from whatever is normal for your baby), which could be the sign of a bladder or kidney infection.
• Some more advantages sent to me by a wonderful lady overseas: "And there is some other advantages with cloth diapers: when the child is old enough to start potty-training (around 18 months) he notices that when the cloth is wet, it becomes so cold and uncomfortable. And  goes more easily on the potty since when he leaves the potty full, he's not at all cold and wet. I cannot actually remember it myself, but I saw it work on my brothers who are 8 and 12 years younger than me.  The one other thing I can think about is a recent question of pediatricians about the impact disposable diapers could have on masculine sterility. Men's "privates" temperature has to be maintained at a lower temperature than the body to avoid problems. The disposable diapers are covered with plastic, and there's a lot of filling, and the temperature inside can rise rapidly. You were talking about heat on a baby's bum. Well, it's not good. So, maybe it's time to think of the little boys as future men."

 

Washing Diapers and Covers
     Wet diapers can be thrown into a diaper pail (we use a trash can with a reusable liner).  I use a mini-shower (attaches to the toilet) to spray off soiled diapers so I never have to put my hands in the toilet water.  I hold the back of the diaper at the top while the diaper hangs down in the toilet, and with the other hand use the sprayer (pointing it down into the bowl) and spray off most of the sticky stuff before putting the diaper in the diaper pail.
     Once the pail is full, I pull out the bag of diapers and dump them into the wash (including the liner).  I use 1/2 scoop of detergent and run a cycle with cold water.  Then I run another full cycle with hot water and no detergent.  Then you can line-dry or dry the diapers in the dryer without a dryer sheet.  I wash one load of diapers every 4-5 days or so with one baby.  If you use prefolds (about 1/2 of our diapers are prefolds) you'll have to wash less often because they take up less space in the washer.  Once the diapers are dry I don't even bother to fold them.  I just put the whole bag of diapers back upstairs and pull the diapers out as needed.
     Wool covers don't need to be washed unless they are soiled.  They will get a damp feeling and then you can let them dry while alternating with another wool cover.  To hand wash you can first use plain cold water and rub the wool together a little to remove large amounts of dirt and let that go down the drain.  Then use about 1/2 sink of warm water and a teaspoon or two of a lanolin-containing soap/shampoo and finish cleaning any soiled spots by gently rubbing and agitating the cover in the soapy water.  Gently squeeze out the excess water and lay flat to dry (without rinsing).  This leaves a little lanolin on the wool each time you wash, to keep it working properly as a diaper cover.  You can also lanolize the cover if the wool ever begins to leak through (causing wet spots on your clothing or the bed).  Usually that doesn't happen until a few months or more of use, when the wool loses enough lanolin to stop working.  By using the lanolin-containing shampoo/wash you may find that you never even need to lanolize.  Some of our wool covers can also be machine-washed.

More Information about Wool Diaper Covers:
     Natural untreated organic wool fabric is the perfect solution for sensitive baby skin. Many people who are unable to tolerate conventional woolen products find themselves in love with organic wool products.  The intolerance is not usually to the wool fibers themselves, but to the many chemicals and dyes that cling to non-organic products.  One added advantage of having your baby wear wool is that it is naturally fire resistant.  Wool also insulates against heat and cold.  It breathes with the skin acting as a natural temperature regulator - warm in winter and cool in summer.  Diaper rash is very rare for cloth diapered babies especially when using natural wool covers which breathe and prevent heat from being trapped against the skin.
     Wool covers are intended to absorb some moisture rather than simply providing a barrier to air/liquid like plastic diaper covers.  I often describe wool as being similar to a clay layer beneath a sand layer, with the sand layer being the cotton diaper.  The liquid easily goes into the diaper layer and then when it reaches the wool layer the liquid spreads out into the diaper as it would into a sandy layer of soil above a clay layer of soil.  The wool layer (like the clay) will still absorb some moisture and become slightly damp feeling, letting you know the diaper is wet and ready to be changed.  The cover can then be air dried and rotated with other wool covers throughout the day.  Wool covers are easy to care for and only need to be washed once every week or two, or if they become soiled.  Leaks are not typical of cloth diaper use, but they can occur sometimes for various reasons.  For example, new diapers need to be prewashed 4-5 times with hot water before they will absorb correctly.  If the diaper is not yet absorbing properly this causes the liquid to bypass both the “sand” and “clay” layers and exit through a leg opening or the top of the diaper cover, without the diaper being fully soaked (you may only see a few wet spots on the diaper if this happens).  If the diaper is completely soaked front to back and almost dripping wet after use, at that point leaks can also occur because the diaper has reached maximum capacity (the “sand layer” is fully saturated) so you may need to move to a thicker diaper or add an additional doubler.  Some babies are much heavier wetters than others, with drastic differences being common even among siblings.  Our organic fitted diapers are an excellent choice for heavy wetters.
     Why Organic Wool?  The difference between organic sheep and conventional sheep is that certified organic sheep do not receive chemical treatments such as drenching or dipping for parasites, fly dressings, antibiotics, growth promotants, vaccines, nor do they graze on pastures that have been sprayed with herbicides. Organic sheep are bred for resistance to parasites and are fed outdoors all year round on special herbal ley pastures to build healthy immune systems. Organic sheep must graze only on certified organic farms and be fed certified organic stockfood. Genetically engineered or modified feed is prohibited.  Organic wool has not been treated chemically throughout the entire production, from the farm to the end garment. Organic production is based on positive holistic management systems, which reduce or eliminate the need for most agricultural chemicals and promote healthy soils, air, waterways and responsible animal husbandry practices.
 Customer comments on switching to wool:
"I wanted to let you know that after a few weeks of using your shorts and pants I am ready to make a full transition to wool.  I can't believe what I have been missing!"
Back to Wool Covers
Back to Fitted Diapers

Environmental concerns
   I've heard some people say they don't use cloth because of the water needed to wash them.  I've found I only need to run one load of diapers every 4-5 days, which isn't much water at all.  Washing laundry is a very small percentage of home-water use (compared especially to the water used to irrigate lawns).  Your baby will actually use more water once they're potty trained and out of cloth diapers, because they'll need to start flushing the toilet.  If you want to save more water than anyone else you know, consider getting rid of the lawn (go with a native landscape), and become a vegetarian (or at least eat less meat) because of the huge amount of water and land used to grow the crops eaten by animals that later become meat.  80% of all water used in the desert is for irrigated agriculture.

    Regardless of which type of diaper requires the most energy (different studies will show different life-cycle energy costs, especially since studies are often funded by the huge disposable diapering companies), the overall amount of energy under discussion is not very large. All the energy invested in diapers that a typical child uses in an entire year is equivalent to the amount of gas most people use for their car in a week or two.  So even if disposable diapers required absolutely no energy to create them (appearing out of thin air and even magically relocating themselves to the landfill once used), figuring out how to drive less would still be much more important than deciding on which type of diapers to use.

The mythology surrounding contemporary diapering is a direct descendant of the modern-day waste ethic, whose roots are generally seen as economic. With profits based on sales, manufacturers have a built-in incentive to foster planned obsolescence. And so it is with diapers. The pure and honorable cotton diaper represents approximately 10 percent of the U.S. diaper market--even though it has a viable life of 80-100 uses. Capturing the other 90 percent of market share is, of course, the single-use, throw-away diaper.

Hidden Costs, Hidden Hazards
The sheer number of diapers being bought, used, and disposed of in our trash are mind-boggling. Industry statistics indicate that as many as 18 billion disposable diapers will be used in the U.S. this year (1988) --the end products of a market valued at more than $3 billion. Chalk up more than half of that to Proctor & Gamble, maker of Pampers and Luvs; 30% to Kimberly-Clark's Huggies; and the rest to various generic or "house" brands. It¹s easy to see how the numbers add up. In the midst of a baby boomers' baby boom, 98 percent of all households using diapers use some disposables. And, as many parents know, a child can run through 8,000 to 10,000 diapers before becoming fully toilet trained.

The forerunner to today's single-use diaper dates back to materials-scarce Sweden after World War II, where a two-piece diaper with a throw-away paper liner was designed. Not until decades later did U.S. industry introduce a single-use diaper--this, too, with an inner absorbent liner designed to be torn out and flushed down the toilet. Subsequent U.S. products combined the outer plastic portion and inner absorbent liner in a design that is at the root of many of today's diaper-disposal headaches.

Today's new and improved single-use diaper is made of an outer layer of waterproof polyethylene plastic. Sandwiched between the plastic and a water-repellent liner is a thick layer of an absorbent, cotton-like material made from wood pulp. A super-absorbent polymer that turns to gel when the baby urinates is embedded into the wood pulp of most U.S. single-use diapers.

Once they are used, roughly 90 percent to 95 percent of the 18 billion feces-and urine-filled disposable diapers enter the household trash stream and ultimately end up in landfills, creating an immediate public health hazard. Leachate containing viruses from human feces (including live vaccines from routine childhood immunizations) can leak into the Earth and pollute underground water supplies. In addition to the potential of groundwater contamination, air-borne viruses carried by flies and other insects contribute to an unhealthy and unsanitary situation. These viruses could include Hepatitis A, Norwalk and Rota Virus.

Although modern, single-use diaper packaging recommends rinsing feces in the toilet, this is impractical and is in fact discouraged by the one-piece diaper design, which does not allow the diaper to be torn apart easily. In addition, rinsing the tremendously absorptive, single-use diaper in the toilet produces a very full, very heavy, very wet diaper. For these and other reasons, it is doubtful that any more than 10 percent of parents actually rinse out single-use diapers as a matter of course.

This unsanitary practice of commingling untreated sewage and solid waste in landfills--of dumping raw sewage directly into the environment--should raise eyebrows among more than those whose job it is to oversee the public health.

Material waste is yet another consequence of reliance on single-use diapers. From the time a single-use diaper is put on a baby, it may have a useful life of a few hours at most. Since there is no other application of the single-use diaper, use of this product in the U.S. alone wastes nearly 100,000 tons of plastic and 800,000 tons of pulp derived from trees.

Add to these material losses the cost of collection and disposal. With the average U.S. landfill tipping fee about $27 per ton of material (some landfills are over $100 per ton), and the average transportation cost to landfills about $48 per ton, we pay an average of $75 per ton or $350 million annually in the U.S. to get rid of single-use diapers! For every consumer dollar spent on so-called disposable diapers, an additional, hidden cost of $0.10 on average goes to pay for disposal.

Few quantitative studies are available that provide numbers on the amount of diapers and fecal matter that end up in landfills. However, assuming that approximately 18 billion diapers are sold year each, and that over 90 percent of these end up at landfills, this translates into more than 4,275,000 tons of disposable diapers trucked to landfills each year. Add the remaining 10 percent that end up in resource recovery plants for a total of 4,500,000 tons of single-use diapers thrown away this year.

To obtain the percentage of U.S. solid waste occupied by disposable diapers, begin with the assumption that the average American generates 1,000 pounds of solid waste each year. This is equivalent to 112 million tons of waste annually from households and some commercial sources, not including tires and yard waste. Assuming that the average used diaper weighs one-half pound when thrown away (authors' personal conclusion), 4 percent of the total U.S. household solid waste stream is composed of single-use diapers.

Since each community's solid waste stream differs, extrapolating to your own community may prove difficult; a scientific sampling could provide exact information. Differences in location, socioeconomic make-up, seasonal fluctuations, and other factors will yield diverse variations from one community to the next. It should be noted, too, that basing waste composition on weight as opposed to volume may also prove misleading. However, since tipping fees are most frequently calculated by weight, this has become a generally accepted practice.

The above notwithstanding, the estimate that disposable diapers make up 4 percent of household solid waste, and 3 percent of the municipal solid waste stream, is sure to catch most solid waste managers by surprise.

Burn 'Em, Flush 'Em, Compost 'Em
Although most single-use diapers end up in landfills, a growing trend in the waste management industry, particularly in the heavily populated northeastern U.S., is the construction of waste-to-energy plants. These plants burn solid waste and produce electricity (mass-incinerators) or separate out a prepared fuel (RDF--refuse derived fuel). About 75 plants currently handle 7 percent of the total U.S. solid waste flow; another 60-plus are under construction. Some industry analysts predict that this will grow to 40 percent by the end of the century, although these estimates are considered optimistic by the author.

The development of mass-burn plants has been the source of heated discussion between environmentalists, who favor recycling and reusing materials, and proponents of waste-to-energy plants. In the case of single-use diapers, however, burning in resource plants appears to pose less of a societal problem than does dumping in landfills. Energy is obtained from the combustion, and the high temperatures destroy any dangerous viruses or bacteria. The diapers are reduced to ash (about 6 percent of the original weight becomes ash) which is then landfilled.

Despite reducing the volume and eliminating the disease potential of single-use diapers, burning any waste will contribute to air pollution. Additionally, the value of the material used as fuel in mass incinerators (4-5 cents per pound) is one-eight the value of the materials if reused. As the trend towards building mass-incinerators and RDF facilities grows, so grows the volume of disposable diapers that end up as electricity, fumes, waste heat and ash. Although burning disposable diapers in mass-incineration may destroy dangerous pathogens, this solution is hardly optimum.

A growing emphasis is being placed on recycling solid waste. States such as New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut have targeted 25-percent recycling goals. New Jersey, California and Oregon already have aggressive recycling programs in place. As the recycling of household glass, cans, plastic and newspapers increase, the percentage of single-use diapers in the solid waste stream will also increase. For example, if single-use diapers make up 3 percent of the municipal solid waste stream today, that percentage will rise to 4 percent once a city or state achieves a recycling goal of 25 percent of solid waste.

The fact is, single-use diapers are specifically designed to be thrown away. Recycling or reusing them is problematic if not impossible, because of the difficulty in separating the product's plastic materials from the cellulose (mostly wood pulp).

In another solid waste management scenario, today's single-use diapers could be recycled in an environmentally sound manner by municipal composting. Commercial composting facilities, which have the potential to mix sewage sludge and municipal solid waste (co-composting), operate at high enough temperatures to kill dangerous viruses. The pulp, paper and human feces from diapers biodegrade into compost, while most of the plastic is screened out of the finish material. This plastic may then either be landfilled or used as a fuel for burning in an RDF plant. This process would be enhanced by using biodegradable plastics.

Although composting municipal solid waste is widely practiced in Europe--where over 200 plants are now in operation--it is only recently gaining acceptance in the U.S. Here, construction of large mass-incinerators continues to be the most popular waste disposal technology. Composting of municipal solid waste and sewage sludge is expected to become increasingly popular in the U.S., as it represents a less capital intensive, simpler and more ecological approach to solid waste management. However, unless or until there is a drastic change in public policy or the direction of waste management technology in the conceivable future, most disposable diapers will be landfilled or burned.

The most logical and environmental approach to disposal of a single-use product is flushing. The sewage waste stream is already equipped to handle urine, feces, and specific types of paper. Sludge recovered from sewage is suitable for recycling through land treatment, assuming that heavy metals from industry have not entered the sewage waste stream. Although present-day single-use diapers are not suitable for flushing down toilets, a new materials configuration could provide a single-use diaper liner that flushes safely. This would require that parents use a traditional nylon, cotton or wool diaper cover in conjunction with single-use diapers.

Although nearly 100 percent of single-use diapers could theoretically be eliminated from landfill disposal by a flushable product, diaper manufacturers have ignored the solid waste problems created by single-use diapers. They have instead focused on integrating super-absorbents (slurpers) into the diaper and adding more materials. Interestingly, the capabilities of some of these super absorbing materials can just as easily enhance the prospects for a flushable diaper option, according to the author's patent review and preliminary field testing. The major barrier to reintroducing a flushable diaper appears not to be plugged-up sewer lines, but a reduction in profits for manufacturers who would use fewer materials in each diaper.

Growing Options for Conscious Diapering
In an ironic shift, cotton diapers have now become the major "alternative" to single-use diapers. Even though most households with infants have a supply of cloth diapers on hand for clean-up and keeping shoulders clean, cotton diapers continue to lose market share to single-use diapers.

Even though diaper services serve less than 2 percent of families with children under three (author's estimate), the industry is now beginning to experience a turn-around in business (note: this "turn around ended in 1991, and the diaper service industry is now smaller than when this article was written in 1988). The weekly diaper service picks up soiled, unrinsed diapers, professionally launders them, and delivers clean diapers to the home. Unfortunately, they are often not available in rural or small-town areas. Once considered an elitist luxury for an advantaged few, diaper services can today be a necessary overhead item for dual-career couples with small children.

At anywhere from $9-$12 per week (1988), diaper services still make more economic sense when compared to the $15 that parents spend on single-use diapers--especially when the hidden costs of disposal are factored in. The following analysis does not take into account the value of labor for home washing, which, the author knows from personal experience, can be considerable.

In addition to the economic advantages cotton diapers have over single-use diapers, they are reused from 80 to 100 times each. Plus, the environmental and economic benefits of keeping feces-and urine-filled diapers out of the solid waste stream are substantial, and should not be overlooked by policymakers seeking ways to reduce the growing solid waste burden.

Although single-use diaper manufacturers have succeeded in convincing the public that diaper rashes are a normal, expected part of early childhood, independent tests and the author's own evaluation have demonstrated that rashes are far less frequent with cotton diapers.

Outright limitations on certain products are not out of the question, as highlighted in a recent solid waste survey of New Hampshire municipal officials. In that survey, 68 percent of respondents indicated they would favor legislative limits or bans on some plastic products. Twenty-one states and many European countries have already introduced legislation to limit or ban plastic packaging waste.

Alternative diapering approaches have not been taken seriously because few recognize the health and solid waste problems created by single-use diapers going to landfills. It also has proven difficult to confront the waste ethic successfully in the U.S., when such a disproportionate value is placed on "convenience" by consumers and marketers. Few environmentalists, cotton diaper services or health proponents can be heard above the public relations and marketing clout exercised by a Proctor & Gamble or Kimberley-Clark.

But, as difficult as it is, we must confront the waste ethic. We have now reached the point where it has become unacceptable to continue to landfill over 16 billion diapers each year. The decreasing availability of landfill space and the increasing and hidden costs of single-use diapers are likely to provide the societal pressure to change diapering modes (note: not so far!).

There are alternatives to sending nearly 10,000 plastic-and-pulp diapers per child to the landfill. Cotton diapers, whether washed at home or by a diaper service, admittedly may require lifestyle and diapering mode changes by many parents and caregivers. Conscious diapering, like conscious living, requires parents and others to think about what they are putting on their children's bodies and where it will ultimately go.

Economic policy should provide incentives to diaper services, which create local jobs as well as diminish the need to landfill single-use diapers. Relying on the same "carrot" approach, incentives for diaper manufacturers to develop a flushable option certainly are more desirable than a ban on single-use diapers from landfills. Incentives to daycare facilities, hospitals and institutions to switch to reusable diapers, gowns and bedding would complement the proven economic advantages of reuse over single-use products. And finally, eliminating landfills as our primary mode of "disposal" and replacing them with resource conservation, recycling and composting, will require a shift in the waste management industry. There are alternatives to disposable products, but they require conscious--often demanding--choices by individuals, industry and government.

The single-use diaper has gotten a free ride for too long. It is time that parents, health care providers, solid waste managers and public policy makers begin to consider seriously the problems caused by, and the alternatives to, the single-use diaper. It's time for a change!

-Carl Lehrburger, Whole Earth Review, Fall, 1988