Eco-Friendly Diapering

The diaper debate is usually all about cloth vs. disposable. However, there are more diapering choices than just those two, though disposable diapers win the popularity contest by a landslide and cloth diapers are an increasingly common choice. Disposable diapers create environmental impacts that many families aren't too happy with, despite disposable diapers' convenience. The huge numbers of diapers headed to the landfill to sit for hundreds of years, for example, leads many families to look for greener diapering options.

Cloth diapers add a re-usability factor, but the cotton used in the most common cloth diapers requires lots of agricultural inputs, plus you could use quite a bit more water in caring for the diapers. Choosing renewable non-cotton cloth diapers, or unbleached organic cotton diapers, helps make cloth diapers even more environmentally friendly.

If you're not quite satisfied with either of those choices, you may want to take a look at eco-disposable diapers, which have the same convenience of disposables but with fewer chemicals or plastics. Sometimes the wood pulp in eco-disposables comes from specially planted, renewable forests, too. Another choice is hybrid diapers, which combine a re-usable outer diaper cover and an inner flushable liner. The liners are often chlorine-free, break down faster if you do toss them in the trash, and they don't contain plastic, so hybrid diapers might bridge the gap between disposable convenience and green concerns for some parents.

All diaper choices have good sides and not-so-great features. If you're looking for a greener diapering option over traditional disposables, cloth may not be your only answer, though. As a former apartment dweller and laundromat user, I'd definitely welcome more eco-friendly diapering options that don't require hauling wet and dirty cloth diapers to the laundry daily!