Diaper Service: Environmental Benefits

99% Less Garbage is Generated When Cotton is Used
Experts in solid waste management agree on the following hierarchy of methods to manage our garbage (the most desirable is listed first): (1) reducing waste at its source; (2) reusing products; (3) recycling; (4) composting; (5) waste-to-energy incineration; and (6) landfill. An alternative to single-use diapers that reduces the volume of garbage at its source is readily available in reusable cloth diapers.

Single-use diapers represent the 3rd largest consumer item (after newspapers and beverage and food containers) in the municipal solid waste stream. These diapers will require over 500 years to decompose. Cloth diapers normally don’t enter our landfills since, after they are retired from the diaper service, they are used as rags until they disintegrate.

 

 

Less Water and Energy are Used to Launder Cotton Diapers than to Manufacture Paper Ones
Two days’ worth of diapers for one baby can be laundered in water equivalent to one flush of the toilet. The Local Government Commission awarded Tiny Tots First Place for Innovation in Industry Water Conversation in California.

Click the image on the right for a graph displaying the differences.

 

 

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health • environmental • enjoyment