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Don't Use Disposable Diapers.

This may seem like a big change, however, when you take into consideration the following information, you will probably agree that disposable diapers are much more harmful to the environment than cloth diapers.

It takes approximately 80,000 lbs of plastic and more than 200,000 trees a year to manufacture the disposable diapers needed for just the babies in America. Some companies claim that their disposables are biodegradable, but in order for these diapers to even partially degrade (some of the plastic never degrades), they must be exposed to air and sunlight.  This is highly unlikely in a landfill. Disposable diapers are made of plastic, often wrapped in plastic after use and, once they reach the landfill, are covered with even more plastic before being covered over with earth.

It is estimated that roughly 2 billion tons of untreated human waste, plastic and paper are added to landfills annually and 5 million tons of that is urine and feces from disposable diapers. The untreated waste placed in landfills by dirty disposable diapers has a high potential of contaminating ground water.

Pro-disposable diaper advocates say that cloth diapers use more energy and contribute to the load on sanitary sewer systems and potential water pollution. But, actually, the amount of water used per week to wash cloth diapers at home is about the same amount as an adult flushing the toilet four or five times daily for a week and, when using a diaper service, the per diaper impact on energy and water supplies is even less than home washing.

Finally, when flushing solids from a cloth diaper down the toilet and washing the diapers in a washing machine, the contaminated, dirty water from both toilet and washing machine go into the sewer systems where they are properly treated at waste water plants. This treated waste water is much more environmentally friendly than dumping untreated soiled disposable diapers into a landfill.

Making this commitment will help to create a much cleaner future for the little ones you are diapering.