From: b_nbca@icarus.lbl.gov (Bruce Nordman)
Newsgroups: ca.environment
Subject: Re: Diapers and Baby's
Date: 3 Sep 1992 01:24:31 GMT
Organization: lbl
Distribution: ca
Reply-To: b_nbca@icarus.lbl.gov (Bruce Nordman)
NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.3.12.154

frankm@resonex.com (Frank Muennemann) writes:
| There IS a consensus: Paper diapers ARE a major component of
| landfill bulk.
About 2%.  That doesn't mean we should ignore it, but calling
it "major" is probably misleading.

| If you kid has gastrointestinal infections,
| the microbes wind up being stored in/near the landfill.
I'm not aware of any documentation of this being a problem,
but I do worry about feces during collection, and trash
sorting (as it becomes more common).

| They are NOT environmentally sound.  If you care about the 
| environment, call your local diaper service and ask them for 
| their literature.
No diapering is environmentally sound -- its a question of
what alterations to personal or corporate behavior are worth
doing under what circumstances.  While many diaper services
do an excellent job, they are not unbiased (just like the
disposable manufacturers and the studies they commission aren't).
 
| The disposable makers say you should remove the liner from the
| plastic cover and flush it so that human waste doesn't enter
| the landfill and spread disease: I've NEVER heard of ANYONE
| doing that!
I'm sure some people do -- you need to distinguish between people
who do and people who don't, and assign environmental impacts and
benefits accordingly.

<<much text deleted>>
| Disposables are definitely a boon when you're travelling,
| but why does our society buy into the "use-it-once-and-landfill-it"
| mentality that the Kleenex people invented to create a perpetual
| market for themselves?  
Disposability is not always less preferable, just usually.
Rather than just berating it, we should look for ways to improve
disposable systems, and to find when they are most appropriate (and not).

| <<text deleted>>

tylerh@cco.caltech.edu (Tyler R. Holcomb) writes
| <<text deleted>>
| My understanding is that the answer to the "diaper question" is
| "it depends."  In a place like New York, where the water supply
| is plentiful (for the time being, anyway) and landfill space is
| limited, cloth diapers have a clear advantage.  In drought-ridden
| smoggy Los Angelese, the method that consumes considerable
| water and appreciable amounts of fossil fuels loses.  
Clearly it depends, but probably more on how the diapers are used,
than on your location.  Both water and energy consumption vary
widely with use.

| I am sorry I don't have more facts at my fingertips; however, I vaguely
| recall this being discussed in Science about 6 months ago.
The paper/plastic cup controversy was discussed, and perhaps bags,
but I'm not aware of any substantive discussion of diapers in Science.

| << text deleted >>

I personally think that more use should be made of cloth diapers
(some home-washed; probably more from diaper services), but that
in some circumstances, disposables are readily justified.

Interestingly, the best analysis of diapering issues that I have
seen was done in Canada, but seems to be never referenced in
discussions on this side of the border.

Bruce Nordman
B_Nordman@lbl.gov
Xref: sparky ca.environment:845 sci.engr.mech:250 rec.autos.tech:11938