The Great Cloth Diaper Debate

This week, the Great Diaper Debate heated up when Jeffrey Hollender, host of "Big Green Lies" and president of Seventh Generation products, proclaimed disposable diapers were better for the environment if you live in an arid climate. Hollender stated, "If you live in a place where there is an abundance of water and you can wash the cloth diapers, cloth is good. But if you're in a place like L.A. where where there isn't enough water, disposables are often the better choice."

Experts, environmentalists, and parents around the nation have risen to refute his self-promoting stance as biased, misleading, or flat out inaccurate. Modern Mommy missed the show, so I hit the Seventh Generation website to discover what data was used to support Hollender's position. The Inside Poop on Diapers states the following facts:

1. Cloth diapers are made from cotton, a renewable resource.
2. Manufacturing disposable diapers in the U.S. uses 250,000 trees and 1.3 million tons of wood pulp.
3. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, some 18 billion disposable diapers are thrown away each year. They are the third most common item in the average landfill behind newspapers and food and beverage containers.
4. The EPA says disposables account for about 3.4 million tons of annual waste.
5. That 3.4 million tons, however, represents only about 2% of all the trash sent to landfills each year. Why? Because disposables are less bulky than they used to be and weigh about 1/3 less than they did 20 years ago thanks to new, more efficient absorption technologies.
6. Water usage was at least two times greater for cloth diapers depending on whether they were washed at home or by a service.
7. Washing cloth diapers at home uses anywhere from 50 to 70 gallons of water every three days.
8. Cloth diapers generally require the use of chlorine bleach for sanitizing purposes. Once rinsed down a drain, chlorine can combine with organic material naturally present in ground and surface waters to create toxins like chloroform.

While there are environmental concerns about the water usage and pesticides used on conventional cotton, cloth diaper manufacturers have responded by offering consumers fabric choices such as rapidly renewing bamboo, hemp and organically grown cotton. The Seventh Generation report neglected to mention most disposable diapers consume barrels of non-renewable oil, as well as cutting down trees.

In addition to the consumption of natural resources used to manufacture disposable diapers, the carbon emissions that result from weekly trips to the store to purchase the 18 billion throwaway diapers that are discarded each year, the Inside Poop on Diapers "overlooks" the fact that the 8000 disposable diapers used per child from birth to potty learning take at least 100-500 years to decompose. Most studies speculate the plastic particles actually never completely decompose, just break down into smaller pieces over time.

A quick Google search and review of our high efficiency washing machine manual revealed modern, front-loading washers cut water usage by at least 40%, consuming only 20-25 gallons of water per load.

The Seventh Generation article does not footnote data, so I'm not sure where they got their information, but chlorine bleach is not recommended for use on the vast majority of cloth diapers. In fact, the use of bleach on modern cloth diapers actually voids the warranty of many brands of cloth diapers. A hot water wash is all that is need to clean cloth diapers.

Finally, let's acknowledge the pink elephant in the room. How did the CEO of a company that profits from the sale of disposable products suddenly qualify as an "expert" on the environment? I am happy to acknowledge Seventh Generation helps reduce consumers' environmental footprint, by offering products made from recycled materials and less toxic ingredients than most other companies that sell single-use products. However, the simple fact of the matter is that Hollender profits by telling consumers single-use, throwaway diapers are better for the environment. That fact alone should disqualify him as a jury member, panelist or expect on the subject.

Other unbiased studies, such as Britain's recent Updated LifeCycle Assessment of Disposable and Reusable Nappies 10/2008 found when cloth diapers are washed at temperatures of less than 140 degrees, occasionally hung to dry, and reused on a second child, the environmental impact of cloth diapers is in fact less than disposable diapers.

Applying Hollender's logic on the devastation to the environment of washing my son's 36 cloth diapers instead of discarding 8000 disposable diapers, should I wear my clothing once before sending it to our landfills, stop using my stainless steel, BPA-free Klean Kanteen and start buying single use bottled water, and replace my dishes, silverware and cloth napkins with Seventh Generation's paper plates, paper napkins, and plastic forks?

Oddly, I have yet to encounter anyone who argues those disposable products are better for the planet then washing and reusing our clothing, linens and kitchenware. Why are diapers any different?