When is it OK to use a Disposable (Landfill) Diaper?
Two years later than my daughter, my son has almost completed his toilet learning! It has been different with my boy, as we have resorted to the bare bum method. Feeling the cool breeze on his bottom seems to be the only way he can remember to hold it in until he reaches the toilet. This works while we are home, but he still had accidents in underwear and clothes. Since we are down to one diaper a day just at night, I’ve abandoned the cloth diapers for Seventh Generation’s Chlorine-Free Diapers.
I’ve always professed that every baby should wear cloth diapers; however, with my son wearing one diaper in 24 hours, it takes a long time to make a diaper load of laundry. After a week, these cloth diapers get very rank, and I don’t really want to put them in my washing machine or waste energy and water to wash them more often. Thus, I’ve resorted to Seventh Generation’s Chlorine-Free Diapers, as it is too late in the game (I don’t plan to have any more children) to invest in gDiapers. I do feel a slight pang of guilt using a landfill, aka disposable, diaper, but I rationalize six years of cloth diapering two kids has earned me the right to one disposable diaper a day.
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I think that Seventh Generation’s Chlorine-Free Diapers are the best choice for disposables. Chlorine bleaching releases harmful dioxins into the air, and who needs a bright white diaper that will just be soiled anyways.
When chlorine and chlorine derivatives are used in industrial processes (such as bleaching paper and wood pulp), they produce substances called chlorinated hydrocarbons, which persist in the environment, accumulate in animals and people, and can be toxic to human and environmental health. The production of chlorine can also release the toxic metal mercury into the environment.
If every household in the U.S. replaced just one 40-count package of conventional diapers with these chlorine-free diapers, we could avoid 133,000 pounds of pollution from entering the environment.
Seventh Generation is a company I trust, and I think their disposable diapers are the best readily available diaper on the market. Still, after reading No Impact Man’s post on cloth diapers, I wonder if I should just hand wash my son’s one diaper a day. What do you think? I’d be curious to know if our cloth diapering readers ever resort to disposables. When is it OK with your eco-conscious to use a disposable diaper?
Image: Seventh Generation
Go with the cloth whenever you can. Saves money, waste produced, oil used, and helps get your kid out of the diapers quicker. I did a ton of research on this 5 years ago when my wife and I produced Toilet Training Begins at Birth. Looks like the general public is ripe for this “Green” toilet training method!
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