Comments on: Cloth Diapers vs. Disposables: The Water Issue

By: Caroline

Caroline — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 06:06:41 +0000

I realize I’m about 10 months late on this post but…

I have always thought it would take me a child’s entire diapering career to use the amount of water washing his or her diapers that it takes to maufacture even half of what he or she would use in disposables. Plus, we aren’t leaving anything to clog landfills. So it’s not just about water, but the whole picture. If someone decides not to cloth diaper because of the amount of water in washing, they are not looking at the larger picture of manufacture and waste, much less the health and safety issues involved with disposables in the first place.

By: Sam Daddy

Sam Daddy — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 13:48:40 +0000

The water issue is certainly a really important point, but I have to be honest: Washing cloth diapers is a real pain, we did it with our first daughter and while I always try to do some good for our environment, there are much less annyoing and still effective ways not to pollute the planet.

By: 5 Green Products: Little Twig SPF 30 Kids Mineral Sunscreen to Green Toys Dig Earth Day Essential Green Kit For You and Your Tot

Mon, 17 May 2010 17:48:50 +0000

[...] not use baby powder. I did, of course, buy it, as I thought it was a product I needed to have for cloth diapering. The one time I did try using baby powder, the fine dust that became air born did concern me as [...]

By: Julie Urlaub

Julie Urlaub — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 02:44:45 +0000

I really appreciate the wholistic approach you you take regarding your water usage. Aside from the water usage in disposable diapers, there are other resources utilzed in their manufacturing as well as their disposal. Cloth, espcially organic diapers, would seem to be the preferred choice on all counts.

By: Frank P

Frank P — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 20:52:13 +0000

We, the wife and I, living in a house (so have to support the lawn every now and then if we can not store enough rain), are relatively constant at 88m3 per year. According to google, thats (88 000 l) / 365 = 63.7 US gallons per day.
I expect that to go up once the first child is there of course.

By: Derek Markham

Derek Markham — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 20:21:57 +0000

Frank - I know what our water usage is, because I track it. For 6 years, we lived in a tiny house (a camper, actually), and I hauled every single drop of water that we used. For those years, we used an average of 10 to 15 gallons of water per day (for 3 people, then 4) plus another 30 to 40 for clothes washing (not every day). That works out to a very small water footprint for our family. We now live in a house (family of five), and I just looked at my water bill for the last couple of months. It averages out to less than 100 gallons per day total, including washing diapers (and some of that is waste, as our kids aren't as mindful of water usage as we are). According to the USGS, the average person uses about 80 to 100 gallons per day. Our water usage is still small compared to the average. How much water do you use, Frank?

By: Frank P

Frank P — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 19:17:09 +0000

It is my experisence that people who say “I use water very carefully” and are not also able to say how much water they use, are not using water carefully, when you look at the numbers.

So how much water do you use per day or month?

By: Ameya

Ameya — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 14:04:56 +0000

I think its such a ridiculous argument, made mostly by people to alliviate guilt (not saying they should have it, but i notice that most of my friends apologize to me for not being able to CD themselves, and i never say anything about it to them). So much water & junk goes into making disposables, and they don’t seem to care how much water they use when they flush their toilets- why are babies any different? Shall we all go around wearing diapers too, so we can bypass the toilet & it’s water usage all together?

I agree. Water use needs to be looked at holistically, not like this.

By: Sheri

Sheri — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:17:32 +0000

The very manufacturing of disposables takes water as well, so you are not saving any water by using disposables. I agree with you and Mr. Green and think most environmentalists would.
You are also correct in saying that we are better off watching our water waste than worrying about washing cloth diapers.
We would also do well to start thinking about ways to make water, like they do in Dubai, or how to make energy from recycling disposables like they do in Britain. Those conversations would be fun to have!

By: Aaron Shaw PhD

Aaron Shaw PhD — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 06:06:07 +0000

This reminds me of the argument that it takes more environmental waste to make a regular coffee cup than a Styrofoam one. .-= Aaron Shaw PhD´s last blog ..Baby Animals of the Day! Baby Porcupine! =-.

By: Nexyoo

Nexyoo — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:40:10 +0000

Great point. I think it’s often hard to keep track of our overall environmental impacts, because of the complexity involved, but it’s important to try. Diapers are just one small part of the whole picture. A book called the Consumer’s Guide to Effective Environmental Choices has some really good info on the broader picture, even though it’s a little older.

By: darjen

darjen — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:20:57 +0000

the cloth vs paper diaper issue came up on bill nye’s green show the other day. his conclusion was that the overall environmental impact (not just water use alone) was inconclusive. and I would tend to agree with that.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:53:46 +0000

I think the thing that gets missed with the “water question” is the fact that it takes water to produce disposables. I don’t actually know how much, but I do know that water is used in the process.

By: Summer

Summer — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:53:22 +0000

Thank you! For me, I've always considered that the amount of water used washing cloth was minimal compared to the amount used and polluted making disposable ones. Added into the landfills and chemicals, cloth just seemed to be more obviously green. .-= Summer´s last blog ..Vegetarian Kids =-.