The biggest assumption we make when it comes to cloth diapering is that it’s eco-friendly. It’s easy to think that way simply because we don’t dispose cloth diapers the way we do with disposable diapers. But the truth is that the environmental impact of the things we use aren’t limited to just disposal but its entire life cycle from cradle to grave.
Production
The process of making a diaper is generally bad for the environment. On one hand, there are the adverse impacts of cotton milling required to fabricate cloth diapers and on the other is the effect of expending wood pulp and plastic to manufacture a disposable diaper.
Cotton is a water-hungry, fertiliser- and herbicide-intensive crop, which directly damages the land, water systems and human health. The bleaching process to whiten cotton diapers uses vast amounts of chlorine, which also has similarly adverse impacts. Cloth diapers typically use polyester as the wicking fleece layer or the outer waterproof shell, which is made from petrochemicals, a non-renewable resource.
The alternative isn’t much better, with the plastic exterior of a disposable diaper and its fluffed wood pulp internal layers consuming 82,000 tons of plastic (also from petrochemicals) and about 1.3 million tons of wood pulp (that’s 250,000 trees) for disposables in the US every year. Making things worse are the social and carbon costs of externalities related to chlorine gas released when bleaching paper and the usage of virgin forests to make pulp.
Usage and Maintenance
Environmental factors to consider when using diapers is the carbon footprint it creates during transportation, the water footprint produced for washing and the amount of actual diapers used.
Washing requires water, energy, detergents and time. Take into account the difference between washing at home (or through a service), the type of washer, detergent and drying methods. When dealing with poo stains, anything less than (energy-intensive) piping hot water won’t do. Add the pre-washes required to clean the initial stains out together with the recommendation of washing new diapers and liners at least five times for maximum absorbency before use and the maintenance of having to pre-wash, you’ll realise what a water-guzzler cloth diapers are.
However, the energy and carbon footprints that go into packaging and transporting 6,000 disposable diapers are much more impactful than the 50-odd piece cloth diaper system needed for each child.
Disposal
The waste footprint is the biggest impact your diaper preference will have on the welfare of the planet and inadvertently our kids.
For the number of cloth diapers needed, most babies use less than 15kg of raw cotton for a lifetime of diapers, which is further reduced if diapers are passed down, sold or upcycled. Cotton compounds take between six months and 50 years to break down. The excrement from its usage are also of little concern as it’s disposed in the toilet or drain through washing and later treated with other human waste.
Disposable nappies, however, are an entirely different concern. Taking 500 years to bio-degrade, the first disposable nappy ever made is still in a landfill site somewhere out there. Considering that each baby generates a ton of waste in a lifetime of disposables, the 600,000 children born in Malaysia in 2012 (with a birth rate of 20.74/1000 population) will contribute to 480,000 tonnes of waste if 80% of their parents decide to use disposable diapers, costing us RM19.2 million a year for landfill management. Soiled diapers can also cause contamination and communicable diseases when leached in landfills.
Verdict: Cloth Wins
The odds are equal at the production stage, with the tie-breaker being choosing organic, unbleached, fair trade and biodegradable products for either cloth or disposable diapers. For usage, cloth wins over disposables as the water and energy footprint of washing can be mitigated following a routine conservation wash at home using energy-saving appliances. Energy footprints related to packaging and transportation costs for cloth are much smaller than that of disposables. Upon disposal, cloth diapers also appear tops compared to the massive waste footprint created by throw-aways.
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Cloth Diapers vs Disposables Part 1: My Experience
Cloth Diapers vs Disposables Part 3: A Cost Comparison
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Khairun is mum to 18-month old Aidan and owner of Recovr Resources Sdn Bhd, a growing social enterprise in the recycling and equal employment industry. She and her husband Max are currently living in Jakarta, and are expecting a daughter in December.
Image Credit: iStock Photo
