Are So-called “green” Or “organic” Diapers Really A Better Option For The Planet Than The Regular Ones?
Sunday, October 25th, 2009 at
10:59 pm
I really, really don’t have time for cloth diapers with my special needs baby, but I want to be more environmentally friendly. I see some diapers labeled as chlorine free or organic or green in the stores, and they are much more expensive. I don’t want to purchase them unless they are truly much better for the planet. Would my money be better spent on something else environmentally friendly, like organic produce or something like that?
Tagged with: "green" • Better • Diapers • Option • Organic • Planet • Really • Regular • Socalled • Than
Filed under: Free Baby Stuff
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I don’t think anybody is labelling disposable diapers as “organic”…?
But, the merits — to me — of using Seventh Generation, and when I can’t find those the PC Green (which I’m going to guess, being in Canada, is maybe the other ‘green’ brand you’re seeing?) — is that they are not stinky like Pampers, which I would not use if paid; who wants that reek on a kid? and that they are not emblazoned with advertising (sorry, “licensed characters”), and that they work.
There are plenty of downsides to the planet from organic farming; http://www.cracked.com/article_17084_5-w… has a good summary.
Most of these things are marketing and that’s about it; if you want to make a difference, simply buy less crap.
But — these are _good_ diapers, and no bleach etcetera is a fairly unarguable good…
I noticed with my cloth diapered baby that whenever she was in a disposable, the Seventh Generation ones caused fewer rashes than the other brands. They are better because they avoid the bleaching chemicals which pollute water supplies during manufacturing. But really, you should look at GDiapers (hybrid between cloth and disposable) or think about pocket diapers (washable cover with a pad stuffed inside for absorbency). Even if you only do cloth at home or at night or even half the time, that is half as many disposables that are NOT produced and causing pollution in a third world country, NOT being shipped across the planet using fossil fuels, and NOT being dumped into a landfill here or in the Philippines and sitting for 1000 years leaching chemicals into the water supply. And modern cloth diapers are not like the old ones. The pocket diapers and All In One diapers go on and off just like a disposable. There are lots of options.
Chlorine-free baby diapers do just end up in the landfill like other diapers, but they are better for the environment. The chlorine can leach into groundwater and harm people and animals.
But more importantly, your baby’s skin isn’t in constant contact with chlorine for the first several years of his or her life — that’s a far more important consideration for most people.
The chlorine serves no practical purpose in the first place — it’s mainly there to bleach the material from it’s natural brownish color to a bright white, because white seems to sell better.
So yes, chlorine-free baby diapers help both the environment, but more importantly they’re healthier for your baby.
The green/organic diapers are supposedly easy to biodegrade. However, their biggest selling point is they do not have a lot of chemicals in them so they’re supposedly better for your baby. I think your money is best spent else where. Be careful of these claims, what they mean to you and the accepted government definition are two separate things. Organic produce can still have a small amount of pesticide usage.
Hi I believe they are better but only if you put them in your compost or such like.
The better option is called the Eenee eco you should be ble to buy the in Canada. It is a cloth nappy but you hardly need to wash it and the liner – the bit that gets dirty – is the only bit that gets composted/chucked out.http://www.natureschild.com.au/flex/napp…
A great site!!!
Otherwise, I did the cheats option then what I did was use a laundry nappy service. It worked out slightly cheaper than disposables, they picked the nappies up form our front door once a week and dropped off a load of clean nappies – easy!
Well there was no push for green products 20 or 30 years ago so no one made them. You should try cloth diapering … you have to read and learn about it but its VERY good for the earth and VERY cheap. You make a one time investment of diapers and a spray washer to use and you’re done. They can be expensive upfront but you dont buy diapers again! Unless you want to…. Anyway, give it some thought…
Chlorine free diapers are not better for the environment, they are supposed to be better for your baby…..
I think they are better for the baby by not exposing him or her to unnecessary chemicals. Anything that has fewer chemicals is better for the environment too.
i honestly think all this ‘earth friendly’ stuff is just a gimmick. if it is so great for the earth, then why wasn’t it around 10, 20, 30 years ago? it all goes to the same place, the dump.
yes its true.what click 2 $ave said!
There are a few different ways those diapers are different. Some of those ways are better for baby, and some are better for the planet. Here are some catch phrases you might see, and what they mean:
Chlorine-free: This has nothing to do with the planet. This means it won’t expose your baby to harmful dioxins, a carcinogen that is present in most diapers.
Gel-free: The only gel-free brand is Tushies. Again, has nothing to do with the environment, but prevents exposing your baby to potentially harmful sodium polyacrylate.
Biodegradable: This is the word to look for when shopping for planet-friendly diapers. You will only find this in very few brands. Nature Babycare is one that comes to mind. This means the diaper will actually biodegrade, and not spend eternity in a landfill. The reason this is a big change is that other disposable diapers will take 500-700 years to biodegrade, and one baby creates one TON of diaper waste in landfills. To date, there has been no decomposition in landfills of any of the disposable diapers that have ever been made – let that blow your mind for a second.
Organic cotton: Anything made with organic cotton instead of conventionally grown cotton is better for the planet. The pesticides used to grow cotton make up over 40% of the pesticide use in the US, so this is definitely helpful for the environment. Huggies has the new organic cotton diapers. They are helpful, but will still lay in a landfill for centuries.
Hope this helps!
It depends on which diaper you are talking about. these are listed from least environmentally friendly to best for the planet.
Seventh Generation uses Sodium Polyacralate (The obsorbant gel material found in all traditional disposables) which is bad for the environment and for baby.
http://www.seventhgeneration.com
Tushies is a great brand that doesnt use any chemicals or dyes including Sodium Polyacralate, instead they use wool fibers for obsorbancy.
www,tushies.com
GDiapers are a flushable diaper that requires a washable cover, they dont use any chemicals and when wet they compost easily. They claim to be more obsorbant than prefolded cloth, these are amazing alternatives to cloth. (I cloth diaper and I have to say my covers stay free of poop 99% of the time, making these a not so icky alterntive as well)
http://www.gdiapers.com
Cloth diapers are obviously the best on the planet your budget and your baby (they are soft, as organic as you want to be, and as cheap as you make them). But they seem to be a hassle to some parents, I personally dont find them too difficult to wash, honestly I think the only thing that made me use disposables at all with my newborn was it was more difficult to snappi a prefold than velcro a disposable in the middle of a sleepy unadjusted night. But daytime I still stuck with cloth. There are so many options nowadays you should see what they are before writing cloth off. I use pocket and All in One diapers too.
http://www.Babycottonbottoms.com
There is also this new service starting that composts regular disposables to keep them from landfills, this is only available to certain areas though, I hope this catches on mre quickly all over the US.
http://www.earth-baby.com
Some more on Cloth:
Pocket Diapers need Inserts they also can only be used one time before washing but you can stuff them for extra obsorbancy. The interior is ussually soft micro terry oor fleece I suggest using these at night time or heavy wetters during naps. they are also good for the hesitant father or grand parents. AIOS or All in Ones are also only good for one use before laundering but you dont have to do anything to prepare it just fasten the velcro or snaps and Done perfect for those relatives completely against using “icky cloth diapers”. Both of these are a little more expensive because you have to buy alot of them to use them full time but a very handy diaper. They also have brands that offer these in a One Size option, (these have snaps to make the diaper longer or sharter and the velcro or snaps to regulate circumference) although they ussually dont start fitting baby very well until about 10lbs.
Diaper covers or diaper wraps come in all different shapes sizes styles and fabrics. they are used over the traditional flat diapers, prefolds,and fitted diapers. Flat diapers are big one layer squares which you fold up to fit baby they are very cheap ussually 8-12$/dozen but a slight pain especially when baby can wriggle around more the upside is the price since you dont even need more than one size. Prefolds are cotton layers sewn together and require very little foldiing they also have better obsorbancy than flats ussually running 20-25$/dozen you will need to buy two-three sizes as baby grows but the older ones are useful as inserts to pockets and wipes and such around the house.. You use a snappi or pins to fasten them. A fitted diaper is a cotton/flannel/terry diaper that is shaped like a disposable and has velcro to fasten it, very easy and expensive about 10-20$ each. For any of these, you will need about 30 newborn, 24 infant and 24 baby sizes if you do laundry every 2-3 days.
Diaper wraps or covers are needed with these diapers to keep babies clothes dry.
There are “wool soakers” which are frankly expensive (20-40$ each) and cute they wic the wetness away from baby and most people use only one for each diaper change although some parents do re use them (icky). these can often be used for many monthes before the baby grows out of them. They are also harder to maintain than other covers
There are fleece covers and pull up pants these are cheap or expensive and all prices between but also only last one diaper change these are easy to make and also wic wetness from baby, you can buy them from 10-30$ each.
There are other soft covers targeted to newborns and other babies all of which can only be used once before laundering and all of which you must buy at least 3 even up to 5 sizes to fit from newborn to potty training.
The most commonly used wraps and diaper covers are “wipe cleans” these ussually can be used then wiped clean let out to dry and used again at the next diaper change. people ussually use 2-3 wraps per day rotating through them, so with 6-9 you have 3 days worth of diaper changes. If you use these try to get one with leg gussets. These also come in One Size or there is a new Thirsties cover which fits baby better as a newborn and older toddler which are 2 sizes for birth to potty training called the Duo Wrap. Despit