Full Force: Cloth Diapers
Robby sporting Kushies diapers.....
It takes 200 years for one diaper to decompose? That one got me.
Since my 6th grade Reduce, Reuse, Recycle project that got my family recycling - I have loved the earth.
And I have a few motivations to love the earth well. I believe the earth will be renewed one day and it will be a part of Heaven and I have a responsibility to take care of my patch of it. I also want my children to have an earth left when they are my age to garden, cultivate, find beauty in and enjoy.
So, I finally got my cloth diapering system going. So many choices. All In One diaper? (where the entire diaper can be washed, no stuffing or assembling required or outer wrap or shell or pins - old school!) Wet pail? Wet bag? (for the dirty diaper storage until washing) Washable wipes or disposable wipes?
Here's the deal: I went with Kushies for my diaper after much research, surveying and reading. Cost effective and he does not wet outside the diaper like he leaked for every Fuzzy Bun I put on him. But I have friends who swear by 'em. To each his own bum protector.
Before I put on his cloth diaper- I add a genius biodegradable liner that will "catch" the poo of my 16 month old. So when it's soiled, just remove liner (with poo on top) and flush. Yay. So much better than any scraping methods into the toilet. The the diaper is almost completely stain free and just wet. (Kushies Flushable Liner - 3 rolls of 100 sheets for $20!!)
I then have a tupperware bin that closes off that I put my soiled diapers in until I wash.
I wash about every 2-3 days. One cold rinse cycle with a glug of cheap white vinegar. Then a hot wash cycle with half the detergent. Then into the dryer on low.
I am still using disposable wipes. I need to make a system that works well for cloth wipes to wash it all and have no waste. And we still use one disposable for all night. I am starting to use them completely, even for out and about (take a plastic sealable bag for the soiled one and you're good to go)
It has been about a $250 investment (compared to at least $500 for disposables for one year) and I am liking the savings - both in my wallet and for the earth.
Even if I was part-time cloth - every bit helps. Ok, enough of the soapbox. In summary: I like cloth.
If you want a guilt trip, read below. If not, skip it and just know I am into cloth.
Top Ten Environmental Reasons For Choosing Cloth Diapers
1. Disposable diapers use 2x as much water as cotton diapers.
2. Disposable diapers use 3x as much energy as cotton diapers.
3. Disposable diapers generate 60x more solid waste than cotton diapers.
4. Disposable diapers use 20x as much raw materials as cotton diapers
5. 1 billion trees per year are destroyed to make disposable diapers---approximately 4.5 for each baby who uses them
6. It takes between 200-500 years for a disposable diaper to decompose.
7. Disposable diapers are the third largest single consumer item in landfills, and represent 30% of non-biodegradable waste
8. 1 ton of garbage is created for each baby who uses disposable diapers
9. 1 cup of crude oil is used for the plastic in 1 disposable diaper
10. 18 billion disposalbe diapers are used in the U.S. each year enough to stretch to the moon and back 9 times