by Shen-Li Lee

Created on: October 21, 2009

The ease and convenience of using disposal diapers has exploded the diaper industry. No longer reserved for outings only, disposal diapers are now the mainstay diapers used in many families. But what are the consequences of using disposal diapers? With newer designs of cloth diapers increasing its versatility and convenience, a growing number of parents are switching back to basics. Why? What are the advantages of using cloth diapers that have convinced these parents not to use disposable diapers?

1. Environmental Reasons

In the article: "Time for a change? Cloth diapers vs. disposal nappies", it is stated that a disposable diaper can remain in landfill sites up to 100 years, whereas cloth nappies only take 6 months to degrade!

According to Wikipedia, life cycle analyses that take into consideration all environmental factors, including raw material and energy usage, air and water pollution emissions, and waste management issues, have shown that both types of diapers have roughly the same environmental effect. However, there are also articles that conclude differently, depending on investigator bias and assumptions made.

2. Financial Reasons

RWH compared the total cost for full-time disposables versus full-time cloth nappies as at June 2003 and found the following (check calculations):

Full-time disposable diapers with 1 year of toddler night nappies with biodegradable nappy liners costs AUD 3894.

Whereas full-time square cloth nappies for 3 years with some fitted nappies for outings using earth-friendly detergents and quality fitted nappy covers costs only AUD 820. If you add in some optional extras, such as fitted-cloth nappies and liners for outings and biodegradable nappy liners, it brings up the cost to only AUD 1472.

3. Health Reasons

The most important consideration on the debate between the use of disposable versus reusable was the section related to health issues. Even though there is no evidence to the incidence of diaper rash between disposable versus reusable, there are some other concerns to take into consideration, such as:

- the ease of disease transmission via faeces left on the nappy which is then disposed of in regular household waste

- the lack of research on the effect of absorbent gels in disposables (although it has been approved by the FDA to be non-toxic) leading to extreme dryness on baby's thin skin and genitals

- the super-absorbent gel used in disposable nappies contains crystals that form a gel when in contact with urine. Tampons containing these crystals have been removed from tampons because they were associated with the development of Toxic Shock Syndrome, however they are still being used in disposal diapers

- current research indicates that disposable diapers keeps babies' testicles at higher than normal temperatures and there are concerns on the effect of the raised temperatures on future fertility

- TBT (a very toxic chemical) can contaminate plastics during manufacture. Recent research have shown significant levels of TBT in many brands of disposable nappies. Babies may be in contact with up to 3.6 times WHO's estimated tolerable daily intake

4. Potty Training Reasons

Finally, there is possibly another additional benefit to using reusable nappies. Disposable diapers wick moisture away from the child's body so children do not realize they are wet. This is believed to be linked to the reason why disposable diaper-wearing children tend to "toilet train" later than children who wear cloth diapers.

Cloth diapering offers many advantages over the use of disposable diapers from the aspects of financial, environmental, health and ease of potty training.

Learn more about this author, Shen-Li Lee.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.