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The Diaper Dilemma: Making Your Choice
Weighing all the costs of diapering
Both cloth and disposable diapers make an impact on your wallet and your environment. They also both claim to have health benefits – and are each accused (by the other, of course) of having health risks. As a parent, you will need to choose which costs you are willing to live with, and determine what is the best stewardship of your time, money, and both personal and world resources. Some people lose little sleep over the environment, but are aware of every penny that is spent in their house, and they want to keep those pennies to a minimum. Others have the money to spend on disposables, but are very concerned about the environmental impact of their disposable spending. Still others just want their children potty trained at an early age.
If saving $500-$2000 with each child sounds good to you; if saving the landfills of our country and our world 2 tons of solid waste (per child) sounds like a good idea; if having your children out of diapers early sounds appealing; and if you want your baby’s bottom to have natural, safe and comfortable diapers on her bottom for her first years of life, then you have chosen to use cloth diapers. And we at Punkin-Butt want to help support you in this choice!
We hope you find our articles and information, our washing tips, and diapering instructions helpful. We hope you feel free to contact us with questions, concerns, or other matters at mamas@punkinbutt.com . We also hope you enjoy using our diapering products and find them a good fit for your family and your lifestyle.
For those of you who choose not to take the path of cloth diapering, we hope that you have found our information useful and insightful. We hope that in your weeks, months, and years of diapering your children, you will choose and use your disposables wisely. We hope that at least you will choose unbleached, fragrance free disposables. We hope you change them frequently and take good care of your baby’s bum. And we hope you dispose of the waste properly.
To all of you parents, grandparents, parents-to-be, and long time diaperers, we wish you Happy and Healthy Diapering!
To read more on the Diaper Dilemma, choose from the following:
Sources
Lehrburger, Mullen, Jones. Diapers: Environmental Impacts and Lifecycle Analysis. January 1991.
Brideau, Lungard, Seaton. Alternatives in Diapering. 1995.
S.E. Krushel, "Management Land Requirements, Reusable Cotton vs. Paper Pulp for Absorbent Core of Diapers," Report to the Product Environmental Assessment Consultation of the Niagara Institute, January 1993. Addendum: Canadian Requirements.
Proctor & Gamble, Inc. maintains that the trees for PAMPERS come from tree farms in the U.S., not from clear-cutting natural boreal forests. However, if these existing tree farms were not n eeded for diapers, they could be used to meet other needs, and some natural lands, slated for slated for clear-cutting, could possibly be spared. (The trees used for diapers are also suitable for making paper and lumber products) (source: see footnote 2)
Carl Lehrburger with Rachel Snyder, "The Disposable Diaper Myth," Whole Earth Review. Fall 1988:61.
"The Joy of Cloth Diapers" by Jane McConnell, Mothering, May-June 1998.
Farrisi, T.R. "Diaper Changes: The Complete Diapering and Resource Guide", Richland, Homekeepers Publishing, 1997.
Lehrburger, Mullen, Jones study, commissioned by the National Association of Diaper Services.
"Energy and Environmental Profile Analysis of Children's Disposable and Cloth Diapers," Franklin Associates Ltd. (1990)
"Both Sides Now" - Doug Smitheman & K. Amies, Alberta Parent, March/April 1991.
"Canadian Consumer", April 1986, pg. 25
These improvements took place before the lifecycle inventory studies were conducted, and were taken into account.
] U.S. EPA, "The Solid Waste Dilemma: An Agenda for Action," Municipal Solid Waste Task Force, 1989 EPA/530-SW-89-019.
Rahje, William L., "Rubbish!" , The Atlantic Monthly, December 1989.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). "Integrated Risk Assessment for Dioxins and Furans from Chlorine Bleaching in Pulp and Paper Mills.
"Disposable Diapers Linked to Asthma," Mothering Magazine. Issue 98, January/February 2000
Anderson, Rosalind, and Julius Anderson. “Acute Respiratory Effects of Diaper Emissions,” Archives of Environmental Health, 54, October 1999
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