Reusable Diapers ARE Better For the Environment

OK, here at Happy Heinys we already know this. It is a no brainer for me personally, I just need to look at my Sarah Grace, the original Happy Heiny, and I know that the use of reusable cloth diapers decreased HER need for hospitalizations and medications by 50%.

A new study that was just released by the Environment Agency in the UK states that using cloth can save 40 per cent CO2 emissions. This is just for child #1 by the second child this decreases again by about 40 per cent.

Biba Hartigan of Women's Environmental Network (WEN) said: "At last, this report supports what WEN has been stating for decades - real nappies are best for the environment with 40 per cent carbon savings to be made over disposables. It's easy to make a difference with a sensible washing routine. It's just common sense. And parents can save money with real nappies too."

This study did not take into effect the impact that disposable diapers have on the landfills which most of us will agree is a huge impact with over 1 ton of diaper waste per child.

There are also quite a few flaws with this report, one large flaw is it was backed by disposable diaper companies. Unfortunately without a 100% completely independent study we will not know the full impact of all of the benefits to using reusable cloth diapers. But I do know a couple of things:

When I was a baby and cloth diapered:

• it was highly unusual to have diaper rash
• infertility issues were less
• asthma was less common
• landfills were not nearly as full
• we did not have as many chemicals, bacteria, viruses floating around in ground water near landfills
  

All of these simple but true facts leads the realist in me to question the use of any disposable product next to the humans largest organ, the skin. Scary thoughts if you ask me.