Another battle in the war between cloth and disposable nappies
by TreeHugger on 05.20.05
Sometimes it's hard to be a treehugger (it's hard work as Bush would say). You think that you're doing the right thing and then, bam! a new study with findings that nuance or downright contradict the results of the last one. Last December, we wrote this about diapers. Back then, a study by the Women's Environmental Network (WEN) told us that "home-washing cloth diapers has only 53% of the ecological footprint of disposables." Nothing so certain about that now.
The Environment Agency has conducted what it calls "the most independent and thorough study yet carried out in the UK," and the results are that whether it's cloth or disposable, it makes little difference to the environment. As with all studies, it must be put into context; the conclusions about the eco-impacts of washing cloth diapers certainly would be different in a country that produces its electricity from cleaner sources than the UK (or a place where you can decide to buy renewables from the power company). Still, we are far from the 53% of the WEN, and the problem that we mentioned about eco-diapers (made with biodegradable plastic) still apply: a landfill just isn't the right place for composting ("Once read about newspapers that were extracted from a New York landfill, during an archelogical dig. Been there over 25 years and were still legible!" said our old post). What are we to do, then? Are we left with only this solution? Any reader tried it and could tell us about his/her experience? How do you deal with nappies?
::No green winner in nappy debate , ::Eco-Tip: Nappies and Diapers, ::Reusable nappies or disposables? No difference, says green report & ::Kid Commando: On diaperless parenting
[by MGR]
Ah, that study. So flawed, so biased! It never seems to address the issue of the sheer volume of waste created by disposables or the chemicals used in manufacturing them. Although it was difficult to tell, I suspect they compared older styles of diapers that are generally washed by diaper services. It also fails in that water is a reclaimable resource.
A quick internet search will yield dozens of modern cloth diapers brands. These are washed at home, with a small amount of detergent. They are used on not just one child, but often several siblings thereafter. Then they are sold on the internet to be used again by another set of siblings. Many are hand made, right here in the US by moms working to support their families (yes, like me.)
You will never convince me, or anyone else in the modern cloth diapering community, that cloth diapers use anywhere near the resources that disposables do.