| Chlorine free disposable diapers are billed as being the | | | | are often based on silly washing methods (who has |
| safer, greener alternative for diapering your baby. | | | | their home water heater set to 190 degrees?) and |
| However, they are still made with plastic, | | | | they all ignore the fact that the 18 billion disposable |
| super-absorbent petroleum based gels, and they are | | | | diapers used in the US each year must be disposed of |
| still made from non-renewable resources. Now matter | | | | somewhere. Air-drying diapers can be done on a |
| how you look at it, if you choose to use disposable | | | | simple clothing rack if you want to do even more to |
| diapers, 6,000 or more of these diapers are going to | | | | lower your carbon footprint. |
| end up in a landfill very slowly rotting away for | | | | Second, chlorine free diapers and wipes will cost you |
| hundreds of years. It is great that there are chlorine | | | | about $2,200 for just two years worth. If your child is in |
| free disposable diapers for those who simply won't | | | | diapers longer than the cost goes up. Cloth diapers, |
| consider the advantages of cloth diapers, but there are | | | | even really nice ones, will cost you from $200-600 for |
| better alternatives. | | | | the whole two years. Best of all, if your child takes a |
| First, disposables of any kind are not great for the | | | | little longer to potty train, you can usually keep using the |
| planet. We use washable clothing, washable dishes, | | | | same diapers. If you have a second child, cloth |
| even washable water bottles to help cut down on | | | | diapering becomes almost free since you can use the |
| resource use and the huge landfill problem we are | | | | same diapers again. If you don't need them, there are |
| creating for ourselves. Throwing away 6,000 diapers | | | | organizations that lend cloth diapers to low-income |
| and an equally massive stack of disposable diaper | | | | families that will happily take good second-hand |
| wipes (plus plastic bags or boxes they come in and | | | | diapers. |
| then to contain them when they are dirty!) makes very | | | | Finally, disposable diapers that are chlorine-free are not |
| little sense in a world where we are trying to hard to | | | | chemical free. If you choose to use cloth diapers, you |
| reverse climate change and pollution. | | | | can find them in many different fabrics so you can |
| Washing cloth diapers uses about the same amount | | | | choose what is against your baby's skin. Choose a |
| of water as an adult flushing the toilet 5 times a day, | | | | stay-dry lining or go for all-natural fibers, you can even |
| yet no one suggests we all move to using paper | | | | choose organic. Add an unscented, biodegradable |
| underwear to save water. Studies that make resource | | | | laundry detergent and you have a simple system for |
| use for disposable diapers look equal to cloth diapers | | | | keeping your baby's bottom chemical free. |