Cloth vs. Disposable Diapers

For many parents trying to raise their children in an environmentally conscious way cloth diapering seems like a must. But for many new parents this is very intimidating due to a society that has overwhelmingly accepted disposable diapers. After all, we are a disposable society.

Lets examine the benefits of cloth diapers:

• An average baby goes through 8000 diapers. This is a tremendous amount of landfill space.


• Disposable diapers use 1.3 million tons of wood pulp, the equivalent to 250,000 trees each year, along with plastics made from petroleum.


• The EPA estimates 3.3 million tons, nearly 18 billion diapers end up in landfills every year.


• Disposable diapers cause more diaper rash for your baby. Cloth diapers feel wet and get changed when necessary while disposables feel dry so they get changed less often causing more severe diaper rash.


• A study conducted by Anderson Laboratories in 1999 and published in the Archives of Environmental Health, found that disposable diapers release chemicals called Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), including toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene and dipentene. All of these VOCs have been shown to have toxic health effects, such as cancer and brain damage, with long-term or high level exposure.

Disposable diapers not only use paper and petroleum resources and fill landfills, they may also release toxic chemicals. If you are a new parent or a soon to be parent, do the research. If you stop listening to your friends who say it is too much work, you may discover that it really isn't that much more work and it may keep your child healthy and will definitely give your child a good step in the direction of living a sustainable life on this earth.

I still have one child in cloth diapers. It has been a wonderful experience and we have never regretted our decision. We are currently using Fuzi Bunz, you can buy them here.

For more information on cloth diapering read the archives at Mothering Magazine.