making the earth greener one tiny baby at a time

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

The Final "D" Word

I know! You can't take anymore diaper talk! But rule of three's, I had to tie up some loose ends. Then we can take a diaper break and talk about much sexier topics...like hand-me-downs and BPA-free plastics.

I wanted to go into a wee more detail on a few topics.

gDiapers
These are perfect for parents who are way too intimidated to try cloth diapers. Like I said earlier, they are a diaper cover with a disposable insert. The covers are cotton and come in all different colors, patterns and sizes. You can purchase a starter kit, that will get you on your way. When you change your darling little angel's dirty diaper you can either throw the insert away or flush it down the toilet. The flush it, hold the insert over the toilet and pull the two strips on either side of the diaper until the insides fall out into the toilet. The starter kit comes with something I call a "masher" to mash up the diaper so it is easily flushed. You're done! Here is an issue I have had: What to do with the insert while you are still in the midst of changing baby's diaper? I have had to designate a little area where the dirty insert will sit while I put on a fresh diaper. After she is all set I put her somewhere safe and flush the insert. That's basically it with the gDiaper, but if you want to take it one step further, they are designed to use a cloth insert as well. I have not yet tried these, but paper ones are biodegradable!

Disposing Of The Paper Diaper

One of the biggest problems with trash in general is that we time-capsule it in thick plastic bags. Any of you who know me know that my enemy #1 is the plastic bag. I have nothing good to say about any plastic bag; grocery, trash, ziplock or otherwise. So when it came to disposing of our diapers I knew we would have to get creative. Our diaper pail is a tiny little metal trash can. I like keeping it small and simple so I am aware of how much trash I am making. Periodically we dump the diapers from the wee trash can into our kitchen trash can. We use these phenomenal trash bags from CVS "Earth Essentials" brand that are biodegradable. I am not going to pretend that these never rip and the hardiest thing ever, but if you put your priorities in order I am pretty sure that saving the earth will come in above cleaning up the occasional kitchen spill.


When we are out and about I try to throw our dirty diapers sans bag into any available trash can, but if you have to travel with it there are biodegradable diaper sacks. We use "Keep Me Tidy Clean and Green Diaper Sacks" from Classy Kid Inc. Longer name, please. They claim the bags break down into tiny pieces that eventually convert back to Earth when exposed to the natural process. The packaging is also made from EVA (more on EVA vs. PVC in an upcoming post). You can get them at Babies R Us or www.classy-kid.com. And they're cheap!


WIPES

A totally easy commitment I have been able to make is to reusable wipes. Early on, when I was using regular disposable ones I turned to my mom during a particularly messy diaper change and said, "Oh my God, what did you guys use for wipes when we were kids?" Her answer was, "Washcloths." This almost made me faint. I couldn't imagine anything more horrible! But I started reading about families that made their own cloth wipes and solution at home and decided to give it a try. And it turns out I love it! Our friends Boyd and Anne loaded us up with great hand-me-downs from their daughter Wenonah and among them was a huge pile of what I though were little square burp cloths. But after reading the cloth wipe articles I decided that this was their intention. I still haven't asked them about it. If either of you are reading this...let me know! If you don't have a Boyd and Anne in your life, then just make a trip to a craft or fabric store and buy a yard of fabric you think would be absorbent, soft on baby's bum, and easily cleaned. Then just make some homemade solution (recipe below) and either squirt the wipes with it and wash baby, or I make a big bottle of it, fold all the wipes into the wipe warmer, and saturate them. This way these soft little wipes are kept warm and moist. After using them, just toss them in the bin with your dirty diapers and wash all together. I'm not a saint. I still keep the disposable ones around for travel and what my friend Karen has named "poo-splosions."


WIPE RECIPE

-2 TBSP baby wash

-2 TBSP olive or grapeseed oil

-2 CUPS water


OUR MAMAS

Can we take a second to give huge props to our mother's, our grandmothers, and every other parent in our lineage that didn't have any options and wrapped our bums in sheepskins and banana leaves? Thanks!


CLOTH DIAPERS- THE FINAL WORD

The bottom line is that cloth diapers are the best choice for the planet, and your baby's skin, but require extra work for you. But here is the biggest bonus to choosing cloth...YOUR BABY WILL POTTY TRAIN MUCH, MUCH FASTER! That's right! When you make a baby too comfortable in a paper diaper they have no reason to want to use a toilet. And the more they get used to them, the less fussy they are about wanting them changed so frequently.


ADDENDUM

This blog has been so good for me. It is making me do more research to get good answers and re-commit to cloth. I contacted Seventh Generation and Earth's Best with two questions: Can the packaging for the diapers and wipes be recycled, and Can the diapers be composted? Here is the depressing answers I got from Seventh Generation (Still have not heard back from Earth's Best):


Answer #1


Just like most disposable diaper designs in the marketplace, Seventh Generation diapers are not biodegradable, nor can they be composted. Many of the materials used are synthetic, and do not biodegrade.

Most diapers end up in a landfill where they will not biodegrade, even if they were designed to do so.


AHHH! This is terrible! So I just went on to diapers.com and ordered a bunch of gDiapers cloth inserts, disposable inserts, and a Bumkins diaper covers.
Answer #2

The packaging for the diapers can be recycled, this is the same material as grocery bags. Many grocery stores will have a recycling bin at the store entrance. Most municipal facilities still do not take this material.

The tubs for the baby wipes can recycled, they are a number 5. The refill wipes packaging is not recyclable, we are working to make this recyclable.

These can't be composted, our R&D team is looking into new ways to package our products in packaging that will have the smallest impact possible. We hope to have some new packaging available soon.

I had no idea about the diaper packaging. So #4 can only go into the grocery store recycling bin. Good to know!
Stick with me! We can figure this out!

3 comments:

  1. Walgreens has biodegradable wipes as well. They're not easy to extract from their non-biodegradable package but they are available. They wouldn't lie right? I question everything.

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  2. I love your blog!

    I hear that the flip cloth diapers are amazing. http://www.flipdiapers.com/

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  3. Hey Rebecca
    Just read your blog, great job! I don't have a baby yet but I totally want to try out cloth diapers! I have changed probably around...100,022 diapers in my life, with all my nannying and babysitting, so I was very interested in learning about the pros and cons. Good for you for writing a blog instead of napping. Hope you are napping now!
    Tracey Ellert

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