It’s Earth Day and our kids will come home after school full of great enthusiasm and good intentions. The lessons my kids are learning about Earth Day are that we are all responsible, and that every “little” thing helps! In honour of Earth Day today, I’ve got some interesting facts for urbanmoms to consider about diapers….
Did you know…
- that babies use between 3,500 to 6,000 diapers from birth to 2 years old (and many toddlers potty train later than this)
- that on average, most experts agree that the environmental impacts of disposable diapers and cloth diapers are similar in overall effect, though quite different in the types of pollution created.
- that even when using disposable diapers, the contents should be emptied into the toilet so that the waste can be properly treated (whoops after three kids with diapers I didn’t realize that!)
- that parents who use cloth diapers use on average 1.8 times more clean diapers over the infant’s diapering lifetime than parents who use disposable diapers because cloth diapers require more frequent changes.
- that diaper recycling is technically possible and at least one formerly Canadian company is now recycling used diapers in the UK, making them into such things as ceiling tiles and insulation materials. The company found that it was not economic to collect soiled diapers in Canada. They are continuing their research and development in Europe and hopefully, one day there will be diaper recycling in Canada.
- that the City of Toronto is now asking residents to put their used super absorbent diapers into the municipal compost Green Bin program. Both recycling and composting essentially overcome the problem of waste from single use diapers.
In conjunction with the celebration of Earth Day, President’s Choice has introduced its best performing and most environmentally-responsible diapers. These diapers use wood pulp harvested from sustainably managed forests and processing without chlorine bleach, thereby reducing pollution for lakes and rivers.
My daughter’s daycare gave these diapers a try and they got two thumbs (or another part of the anatomy that rhymes) up. Check them out the next time you’re in your supermarket.