Ditch those Nasty Nappies

Did you know that babies go through about 6,700 diaper changes? Did you also know that for every 10,000 babies who use disposable diapers, we are filling up 113 dump trucks by the time those babies are potty trained? And all of those dump trucks have one destination–Landfills. Depositing 6,700 diapers per baby into landfills and letting Mother Earth become rich in waste and disease is horrible for the planet we all live in.

In 1998, the Environmental Protection Agency gathered information and statistics on disposable diapers and found that diapers alone made up 3.4 million tons of waste and makes up 2.1% of the United States’ garbage. That is a whole lot of dirty diapers! While those statistics were taken over 10 years ago, the recent baby boom we have experienced within the last three years will prove to be even more hazardous to the planet, making up an even higher percentage of waste. Even worse, each diaper takes approximately 500 years to decompose. While I’m sure none of us would like 6,700 dirty diapers (per child in our household) sitting in our back yard for the next 500 years, why do we see nothing wrong with letting it sit in the same Earth we get our food and water from? Just because we can’t see it and don’t have to look or smell it every day, someone out there does and neighborhoods with a landfill near by also see a rise in disease, the most prominent and life-threatening being a myriad of types of cancer. Disposable diapers are also made with harsh chemicals that can harm your baby’s sensitive skin and because of its synthetic texture, disposable diapers are not comfortable, and babies are prone to develop rashes or allergies and we don’t want that!

So what can we do about it the 3.4 tons of waste and counting while also giving our children a healthier diaper that won’t harm their skin? Give reusable diapers a chance!

While it is easy to become overwhelmed when thinking about switching from disposable to reusable diapers, gDiapers offers a great starter kit idle for easing you into the transition due to the fact that they are flushable, decomposable diapers. There are many other options out there for your reusable diapering needs such as Fuzzi Bunz, Under the Nile and Nature BabyCare. Whatever brand you choose, you cannot go wrong when making the decision to give your baby a healthier, safer diaper choice and take a little pressure off Mother Nature.