gDiapers

My sister sent me this link to a really cool product for those of you who are wondering if they should go with cloth or disposable diapers:

http://www.gdiapers.com/

The diaper consists of a reusable outer pant, and an internal flushable liner. Pretty cool!

Here in Toronto we are fortunate to have the green bin recycling program, which allows us to "recycle" our disposable diapers. The program turns organic materials (including diapers and kitty litter!) into high-quality commercial grade compost that can be sold to farmlands. It's pretty amazing. I'm not sure why ALL cities haven't jumped on board this program, but really it's something to have your city look into.

I found this article that provides some good links about the cloth vs. disposable debate. Really, why aren't the diaper companies more accountable? In our world where going green is getting super trendy, they really need to get with the program. Five-hundred years to biodegrade a diaper is not just unacceptable - it's irresponsible.

Follow the links in that article and contact Pampers and Huggies if you want to let them know how you think. Better yet, just click on these links, below:

Pampers:

http://pgcanadaen.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/pgcanadaen.cfg/php/enduser/ask.php

Huggies:

http://www.huggieshappybaby.com/utility/contactus.aspx

Cloth Diapers?

I consider myself a moderate environmentalist. I've been converted to not taking a bag at a store if I don't need it and Nelly Furtado has reminded me to turn off the lights every time I leave a room. I still own a car though and drive everyday. And I still take to-go cups at Starbucks even though I have a ton of commuter mugs at home that I could use.

Anyway, with Audrey, I really debated whether or not I should use cloth or disposable diapers. There's the argument of using too much water and energy when cleaning the cloth diapers. On the flip side, there's all of the paper and manufacturing issues with using disposable.

In the end, we decided to go with disposable. Just before Audrey was born, Toronto started the Green Bin Program, so it settled the debate for me. I could put diapers guilt-free into the organics bin and voila - Pampers turns into high-quality compost for farms and parklands.

But now with the second, I'm considering using cloth diapers part-time. Maybe using highly absorbent disposables at night, throwaway Huggies while I'm out, and maybe cloth diapers most of the time when I'm at home. My husband isn't convinced - he thinks it'll be more hassle than it's worth. And thinking about maintaining a diaper pail full of poo and pee slop makes me tend to agree with him.

In any event, on my sister's recommendation, I'm considering purchasing Mother-ease diapers. I like the idea of having diapers with snaps (instead of velcro) and want to avoid the foldable liners. The part-time packages seems like a pretty good deal - it comes with half the recommended amount of diapers, liners and covers. And it's about the cost of 60 days worth of newborn diapers.

I'm pretty convinced, but here are the things that are still on my mind:

• What if I hate it and end up with the waste of owning cloth diapers and disposable diapers?
• What about those diaper pails?
• What about rashes?
• What about leaks?

Wouldn't mind hearing what others thought on this one...