Bogley

DiscGo · Joined: 07 Nov 2006 Posts: 4015

My wife and I were discussing last night what we could to be more eco-friendly. We started thinking of the fact that we have been using a lot of disposable diapers and if we switched to cloth we could really reduce our amount of waste each week and reduce landfills.

I know a lot of people think "old school" with cloth diapers but we found some pretty cool stuff online. We especially think the "Bum Genius" diapers look cool. Have any of you tried any of the more modern reusable diapers, and if so what have you thought?

Mtnman1830 · Joined: 28 Feb 2006 Posts: 1416

I had cloth diapers on my butt, and I turned out fine....kinda....well, thats not the point....

If you won't mind cleaning them, go for it.

Careful not to poke the little tyke.

abirken · Joined: 22 Feb 2008 Posts: 2458 Location: Colorado

I think the idea is wonderful. I say go for it. And I think with more of us thinking green, the cloth diapers have probably gotten much better than what they were years ago. But rather than just investing HUGE into it, why not just buy a few and try it for a couple of weeks and see if you can adapt to the change. I think the biggest issue would be traveling (what to do with the stinky diaper) or when other individuals watch your kiddo (like daycare, babysitters) and helping them adapt to using them.

I don't miss the diaper days nor do I envy having to make that decision.......thought about potty training your little dude or dudette sooner than later? HEHE!!! That way, problem SOLVED. :mrgreen:

Mtnman1830 · Joined: 28 Feb 2006 Posts: 1416

abirken wrote: thought about potty training your little dude or dudette sooner than later?

How bout lay newspapers on the floor and let the rugrat go au natural?

abirken · Joined: 22 Feb 2008 Posts: 2458 Location: Colorado

Mtnman1830 wrote: abirken wrote: thought about potty training your little dude or dudette sooner than later?

How bout lay newspapers on the floor and let the rugrat go au natural?

Wait a minute, we talking about a dog or a kiddo here? LOL!!!!!! :ne_nau: :lol8:

Sombeech · Joined: 09 Dec 2004 Posts: 12602 Location: The Rubbish Bin

DiscGo wrote: My wife and I were discussing last night what we could to be more eco-friendly. We started thinking of the fact that we have been using a lot of disposable diapers and if we switched to cloth we could really reduce our amount of waste each week and reduce landfills.

I would actually start thinking about getting you and your wife potty trained. It's the new trend.

DiscGo · Joined: 07 Nov 2006 Posts: 4015

Sombeech wrote:
I would actually start thinking about getting you and your wife potty trained. It's the new trend.

:haha:

denaliguide · Joined: 12 Feb 2007 Posts: 677 Location: new zealand/alaska

i've had 3 boys and we opted for both depending on what we were doing. disposable when traveling and cloth at home.

cost seemed about the same either way.

even tho cloth are reuseable they did require soap and the washing machine, more water consumption, electricity, time, smelly diaper bin, etc...

disposable were way more conveinent, out with the trash, do increase waste in landfills. the new disposables are supposed to degrade more quickly now.

2 of my boys are in their mid 20's and one that just turned 6. don't know how relevant that is .

sparker1 · Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 11:15 pm Post subject:

denaliguide wrote: i've had 3 boys and we opted for both depending on what we were doing. disposable when traveling and cloth at home.

cost seemed about the same either way.

even tho cloth are reuseable they did require soap and the washing machine, more water consumption, electricity, time, smelly diaper bin, etc...

disposable were way more conveinent, out with the trash, do increase waste in landfills. the new disposables are supposed to degrade more quickly now.

2 of my boys are in their mid 20's and one that just turned 6. don't know how relevant that is .

I would expect the older ones to be out of diapers soon, eh?

JP · Joined: 04 Jan 2007 Posts: 5796 Location: Not Sure

I think cutting back the thermostat, recycling the glass - paper - plastic, shutting lights off is great, but flipping to cloth over disposables, I'm tossing. Maybe the disposable diaper people could come up with more of a earth friendly disposable :haha:

sparker1 · Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 4:46 am Post subject:

JP wrote: I think cutting back the thermostat, recycling the glass - paper - plastic, shutting lights off is great, but flipping to cloth over disposables, I'm tossing. Maybe the disposable diaper people could come up with more of a earth friendly disposable :haha:

Now that landfills are being tapped for methane, we should all start using disposable diapers. :2thumbs: :2thumbs:

rockgremlin · Joined: 09 Dec 2004 Posts: 4058 Location: Hotel California

sparker1 wrote: Now that landfills are being tapped for methane, we should all start using disposable diapers. :2thumbs: :2thumbs:

DING!! DING!! We have a winner!! In that light, we should be sending MORE diapers to the landfills! :lol8:

DiscGo · Joined: 07 Nov 2006 Posts: 4015

sparker1 wrote: JP wrote: I think cutting back the thermostat, recycling the glass - paper - plastic, shutting lights off is great, but flipping to cloth over disposables, I'm tossing. Maybe the disposable diaper people could come up with more of a earth friendly disposable :haha:

Now that landfills are being tapped for methane, we should all start using disposable diapers. :2thumbs: :2thumbs:

:roflol: :roflol: :roflol:

tanya · Joined: 18 Oct 2005 Posts: 5818 Location: Las Vegas

There are pros and cons and no clear cut answer to this....

The extra water used to wash cloth diapers is just as much of an abuse to the environment as the production and disposal of disposable diapers. But taking into consideration the following estimates you will probably agree that disposable diapers are much more harmful to the environment than cloth diapers.

It is estimated that roughly 5 million tons of untreated waste and a total of 2 billion tons of urine, feces, plastic and paper are added to landfills annually. It takes around 80,000 pounds of plastic and over 200,000 trees a year to manufacture the disposable diapers for American babies alone. Although some disposables are said to be biodegradable; in order for these diapers to decompose, they must be exposed to air (oxygen) and sun. Since this is highly unlikely, it can take several hundred years for the decomposition of disposables to take place, with some of the plastic material never decomposing.

The untreated waste placed in landfills by dirty disposable diapers is also a possible danger to contaminating ground water.

On the other hand.....

Pro-disposable advocates say that cleaning cloth diapers uses more energy, and contributes to the load on sanitary sewer systems and potential water pollution. This view really makes no sense if you think about it. The amount of water used per week to wash cloth diapers at home is about the same amount consumed by an adult flushing the toilet four or five times daily for a week. Also, the greater amount of water and energy being used by diaper service companies to wash large amounts of cloth diapers multiple times; the per diaper impact on energy and water supplies is actually 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 wastewater plants. This treated wastewater is much more environmentally friendly than dumping untreated soiled disposable diapers into a landfill.

http://www.thenewparentsguide.com/diapers.htm

Mtnman1830 · Joined: 28 Feb 2006 Posts: 1416

You could put moss in the diapers to soak up the moisture then compost it!