Submitted by Jessy Stam

Finding out that I was going to be a mom was one of the most exciting and scariest things that I had ever heard.  I had lots to plan and prepare.  One thing that I didn’t spend hours thinking about was diapers.  I planned on buying disposable diapers like the majority of women do. I just thought that was what you do.  I received flyers and coupons for disposable diapers in the mail and from the doctor and I asked for them at my baby showers because I knew that they are expensive and that I would go through a lot of them.  Using cloth diapers was not my plan at all.  I never received any information or heard anyone talk about using cloth diapers and I knew that getting my husband to agree to cloth was never going to happen so I put that idea out of my head immediately.  That was, of course, before my son was born.

The birth of my son Ryder brought many wonderful changes to our household.  However, one thing that I just couldn’t get over was how much extra garbage we were producing each week.  This increase was due to dirty diapers.  I also noticed sometimes when I would change Ryder’s diaper there would be a gel substance that had leaked out of the diaper.  I decided to do some research on disposable diapers and what I found shocked me.  The materials used in making the disposable diaper are a combination of paper pulp, polyethylene and other plastics, glues, dyes, and synthetic perfumes. That gel substance that I found in the diaper is created by sodium polyacrylate, a super absorbent chemical.  It has not been determined what effect this chemical has on children but it was once used in feminine tampons and removed because it was linked to toxic shock syndrome.  Disposable diapers also have traces of Dioxin.  Dioxin is produced from the paper bleaching process and is extremely toxic and linked to cancer.  This information, which I obtained from The National Association of Diaper Services and The Real Diaper Association, left me feeling very concerned for the well being of my baby.

The information that I found on what happened to the disposable diapers after they were used left me feeling concerned for the well being of our environment.  Disposable diapers are used one time and then thrown in the trash.  There are 27.4 billion diapers consumed every year making it the third largest single consumer item in landfills after newspapers and food and beverage containers.  Not only are there a lot of dirty diapers but these diapers do not go anywhere.  It may take more than 500 years for some parts of the disposable diaper to decompose and the other parts will never break down. We also pay hundreds of millions of dollars each year to discard disposable diapers. Waste, waste, waste, and destruction…

I have been changing dirty diapers for years, being that I am the oldest out of five and spent my younger years babysitting for many children, and never knew that you are supposed to shake the fecal matter off dirty diapers into the toilet.  I am not the only person that was unaware of this request.  Of the twenty people that I asked about this, only one person was aware.  It is prohibited to dispose human waste in residential garbage yet less than one half of one percent of all waste goes into the sewer system.  That is low!

All this information, obtained from The Real Diaper Association, is for all disposable diapers in the United States.  I wanted to see what the numbers were for Bartholomew County.  I received information from the Bartholomew County Recycling Center and Landfill that matches the national numbers.  In both the United States and Bartholomew County, 4 percent of the total solid waste produced is disposable diapers.  This amounts to over 2,800 tons or 5,600,000 single-use diapers every year!  These numbers are alarming.

It is time that we take responsibility for our actions and make a change.  Cloth diapers are the way to go.  They are not only better for the babies but also for the environment.  Cloth diapers are all natural and breathable, allowing air to circulate.   I think that if babies were given a choice they would choose cloth diapers.  Wouldn’t you?
Cloth diapers produce 60 times less solid waste.  A disposable diaper is only used once and a cloth diaper is used 50 – 200 times.  The production and distribution of disposable diapers use 20 times more raw materials.  Also, it also takes 2 times more water to manufacture and use disposable diapers instead of cloth.  There is so much unnecessary waste because of disposable diapers.  We could be saving many trees, water, and oil if more people used cloth.

Now I know that the thought of cloth diapers makes most parents cringe.  However, cloth diapers are not like they were of years past.  There are no pins or plastic covers anymore.  Cloth diapers look very similar to disposable diapers with Velcro and even snaps.  I also know that parents are busy and like the disposable diaper because of the ease and convenience.  People do not have time for more loads of laundry and do not want to mess with the mess.

The solution to the problem is a diaper service.  A diaper service comes to your home, takes your dirty diapers and leaves you clean ones.  You never have to race to the store for an emergency diaper run and you never have to take the diapers to the landfill.  It is all done for you.  A diaper service is more convenient than disposable diapers.  The cost for a diaper service is comparable to disposable diapers with the added bonus of potty training at an earlier age.  Children that wear cloth diapers can feel the wetness and this helps with potty training a few months up to a year before a child that wears disposables.  You do not even have to dispose of fecal matter in the toilet.  The diaper service takes care of the poop!

My son is now in cloth diapers and my husband even changes his diapers.  I want to make more parents aware of the effects that disposable diapers have on the environment and our children.  I also want parents to know how easy and affordable it is to use cloth diapers, especially with a diaper service.  I am opening a cloth diapers service in Columbus from my home.  I want to help make a difference for our community and for our children.