Prior to our son being born almost 2 years ago, my wife and I decided that we’d use cloth diapers with him (she did the research and I just nodded my head). They are a bit of work to clean and wash (my wife does most of it), but we figure in the long run, they will be better for the environment. How can we say that? Well, we believe that there will be clean energy in the future (solar, wind, etc.) and we’ll (as a society) be able to cost effectively desalinate water.
On the other hand, disposable diapers possibly use less energy to make, don’t require any water to clean, but they will end up in the landfill where they can’t decompose (decomposition requires sunlight and most items in a dump don’t get any sun).
Our mayor has announced that we’ll have water cutbacks this summer and there will be fines for excess use. Since we use a lot of water to do diapers, we have to consider if we’re going to eat the fines or switch to disposable diapers. So if we conserve water and are unable to wash diapers, we’ll have to use disposable diapers that will basically hurt the environment.
Stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Check out G Diapers. It\’s a reusable outer cover (you can wash it if it gets poopy) with a flushable insert that biodegrades when you flush it. My wife loves \’em.