Reject Disposable Diapers

Recycle, reuse, reduce. A fourth "R" is reject. We suggest here that you reject certain kinds of products when you go to the store: disposables and nonbiodegradables. You can help solve the garge crisis by not buying single-use, so-called disposable items like diapers, razors, cameras, and flashlights. Perfectly good alternatives exist for all of these products - ones that can be used over and over again before they need to be discarded.

Of all the disposables, diapers present the largest problem. About twenty bullion disposable diapers are used each year in the United States and Canada. They are made from over one million tons of tree pulp, the equivalent of about twenty million trees per year. Just their manufacture results in millions of pounds of pollutants being spewed into the air.

Disposable diapers present three main problems:

1. They account for about 3% of the waste going to landfills, where they take up space that could be used for other things.
2. They don't decompose readily. The plastic part of the diapers takes anywhere from two hundred to five hundred years to decomposed in a landfill
3. Most people don't dunk disposable diapers in a toilet to rinse out the waste, thus they are still filled with urine and feces when they end up in the landfill. Human biological waste isn't supposed to be put in landfills because contaminants will slowl leach into the earth and pollute groundwater supplies.

There are several alternatives to using disposable diapers:

• Buy several dozen cloth diapers and wash them at home. This is the least expensive alternative.
• Buy all-in-one diapers, which are cotton liners with a waterroof shell and velcro closures. Several brands are available
• Use a diaper service, which will deliver clean diapers to your house and take away the soiled ones. You are still likely to save a few hundred dollars a year.
• For those occasions when you must uses disposable diapers, purchase those that haven't been bleached with chlorine. Chlorine bleaching produces dioxins, which are highly toxic pollutants. And be sure to rinse out the waste in a toilet before disposing of the diaper.