>Bye bye perfume, no more chlorine. Flush them down and your life will be green.. Ok, so maybe not a great ditty, but we haven’t stopped singing since we tried these fabulous diapers. A mix between cloth and disposables, the inner liner pops out and you can flush it – or get this… stick it in your compost bin to decompose within 3 months and give soil directly back to the earth. (Add this to our fun list of things to do with kids in the garden). For those of you who are mortally offended, not only by the landfill factor of using disposable diapers, but by constantly seeing Elmos and princesses on your dear one’s tush, these are the solution. gDiapers have soft, stylish covers that close with velcro and come in swanky colours. The one featured here features pink ruffles, and there are also very stylish ‘g’ logos, stripes and patterns. It makes you want to leave the baby all but naked.
Interesting facts:
– Disposable diapers take 500 years to decompose in landfills.
– Some estimates suggest that 82,000 tons of plastic and 1.8 million tons of wood pulp (1/4 million trees) are consumed each year in the production of disposable diapers.
– Experts estimate that 2% of landfills are entirely disposable diapers (the other part is old Ikea furniture. Just kidding).
– The average child uses over 5,000 diapers during the 30 month period before toilet training, contributing to a total of over 16 billion diapers or 2.7 million tons of single use diapers requiring disposal each year.
Sources: gDiapers, The Diaper Decision: Not a Clear Issue, by Joyce A. Smith and Norma Pitts, Ohio State University.
Great review! I’ve been using these with my son for about 18mos now and have nothing but good things to say about them. Absolutely love them and always keen to let Moms know about this 3rd alternative in diapering. Thanks for helping to get the word out.
We think gDiapers are a great “transitional” option between disposables and cloth. I think it’s important to warn parents, however, that many city systems do NOT recommend putting these in their toilet. You could find yourself in serious trouble if they clog your drains or worse, those on an entire street. Winnipeg Consumerwatch suggests “Don’t throw GARBAGE down the drain” http://twurl.nl/l1aswb and there was an interesting study done by the City of Vancouver suggesting you do any thing BUT flush liners down the drain – http://tiny.cc/fHEfp.
The ‘swish and let soak’ instructions must be followed to a ‘t’ so they start to break down in your toilet. After all that trouble, we wonder, why not just use cloth? It really is easy (and fun!). You don’t hear that about disposables. 😉
[…] See also: Cloth Diapering Basics gDiapers […]
[…] You needn’t feel sad about leaving your skinny jeans in a drawer. Your baby can now put on (and soil) several iterations every day. Huggies has upped the ante in designer disposables. To be honest, though, we’re a little saddened by this. One of the advantages of cloth diapers was always that the covers were available in super-cool prints. Hopefully with the new chic disposables, parents won’t find another excuse against cloth. We must admit, though, that if you’re in a bind and need some style, these tiny Daisy-Dukes are a cool option. For more diaper ideas, see our articles on cloth vs. disposable diaper cost comparison and gDiapers. […]