1. Disposables aren't disposable unless someone changed the law while I wasn't
looking. It's not legal in most places to put 'night soil' in the garbage. The
packaging never used to claim 'disposable'. We just call them that. And they
are a nasty litter problem too.
2. It would be possible to make them compostable using a biodegradable pad and
biodegradable plastic film made from cornstarch. But the same universalised
hygiene concerns apply - daft to a rural inhabitant but significant to urban
apartment dwellers.
3. Who is thinking? Water is recyclable, front loaders use a lot less of it,
dry them on a line for most of the year down your way, use eco-friendly low
phosphate detergents. Even a pick-up service is better.
4. People get silly about water saving. Are you in drought (as we sometimes
are)? A woman where I worked suggested that people used one of those sanitary
hand washes I the staff bathroom (which she and her squad had thoughtfully
placed on the sinks) to 'save water' for environmental reasons. I raised a hand
and asked how much water was used to make the bottle it came in and the alcohol
base of the product. I said I wasn't sure but I suspected that it was in the
order of five times the amount of water that they'd save. And far more could be
saved if they didn't flush the toilet if they'd only had a pee. Didn't make me
popular but the silly little bottles disappeared. I can't stand stupid.
5. The killer argument is always money. We saved enough money using cloth with
our first over the two years to pay for the washing machine. The initial outlay
for good quality diapers/nappies (which lasted for the second child and then
became good cleaning cloths for a while) was a slight minus. The labour of air
drying was offset by the lack of shopping and struggling home. There was a
small cost in using a service when there was no choice and a few carefully
disposed 'disposables' when travelling.
6. The main downside is the initial cleaning but, you have to wipe their little
arses anyway so how much extra unpleasantness is that? Some women have claimed
to me that they can't manage in the first, exhausted period after birth but
isn't that what husbands/partners are for? I was.
Andrew Fildes
afildes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
www.soultheft.com
Author/Publisher:
The SLR Compendium:
revised edition -
http://blur.by/19Hb8or
The TLR Compendium
http://blur.by/1eDpqN7
On 18/04/2014, at 8:53 AM, Tina Manley wrote:
> I always used cloth diapers; however, the thinking now is that disposable
> might be more environmentally friendly considering all of the water,
> detergent, drying, etc. that is involved with cleaning the cloth ones. If
> they made a disposable diaper that could be composted into the garden, that
> would probably be best!!
--
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