The Diaper Dilemma: What's Best For Baby And The Earth?
By Donna Gordon Blankinship
Candice and Jeffrey Barth consider themselves environmentalists. They recycle. They avoid using disposable plastic and Styrofoam. They teach their children about protecting the Earth for future generations.
So when it came time to choose diapers for their second child, the Barths did a lot of research and soul searching before signing up with Anderson Diaper Service. The company promised it could recycle their disposable diapers.
"We felt a sense of pride. We felt we were doing our part," Candice Barth remembers. For nearly two years, the Barths and their babysitter saved rinsed, used diapers in a bag for monthly pickup.
Then in June, the babysitter called Candice with some disturbing news. The diaper recycling company was being sued by the state of Washington for misleading its customers. Anderson had been bringing diapers to the dump instead of recycling them, according to a lawsuit filed by the attorney general's office.
"I think all of us feel very deceived," Candice said. Her family and a number of others have joined together to file a class-action lawsuit against Anderson Diaper Company.
The Barth's experience shows there are no easy answers to the diaper dilemma: cloth versus disposal. Every family has a number of factors to consider, including health, finances, child care, work schedules and the environment. Anyone who keeps up on the news finds the decision gets more complicated all the time.
Your baby's health is the most important consideration when making a choice between cloth and disposable diapers. Some children who have a problem with diaper rash or very sensitive skin, have an easier time with disposable diapers because they draw the moisture away from the skin. Some parents who use cloth diapers during the day, turn to disposables for bedtime.
A pamphlet created by the King County nurses association addresses both the health and environmental issues concerning diaper choices. "Diapering Baby: What's The Bottom Line" offers a number of reasons for diaper rash and suggests ways for avoiding the problem when using cloth diapers. For example, the association says parents should try getting along without waterproof pants as they can trap moisture on a baby's skin. Finances is another area to consider. Disposable diapers are the most expensive choice, using a diaper service is at least $2 less per week and washing cloth diapers at home is at least $1 less than a diaper service, according to the nursing brochure.
Child care is another major issue for most parents. Many day care centers insist on disposable diapers and so do babysitters. Disposable diapers are more convenient for caregivers. Some day care centers do use cloth diapers, however. If you use a diaper service, ask them which day care centers use the service. You may get a discount on diaper service for the home if you send your child to a cloth diaper day care center.
Convenience is also a consideration for parents. Candice Barth commutes to Tacoma from Seattle for work. She gets home at 6:30 p.m. and the schedule is dinner, bath, books and bed. Candice said her family's busy schedule, Alexander's diaper rash and the fact that the babysitter insisted on disposable diapers all had a big impact on their diaper decision.
She bought cloth diapers originally, but admits she didn't give them a long enough trial before giving up after a battle with diaper rash and after hearing about Anderson Diaper Service.
Candice says the focus for their diaper decision was: "What's going to be best for our family. What's going to be best for our baby." She says she has put even more thought into the impact of diapers on the environment since her older son, 6-1/2-year-old Cameron, became old enough to ask questions like, "Are people making good decisions for children's future?"
The environmental impact of diapers is the main focus of the nurses association brochure, which is being revised with money from the Environmental Protection Agency and King County Solid Waste Division. The new brochure and a video on diapering decisions will be distributed throughout Oregon, Washington, Alaska and Idaho this fall.
Annie Bruck, an RN and project coordinator for the Diaper Decisions Task Force, said the nurses association spent about a year researching the issue before putting out its first brochure, video and position paper.
Bruck said the association receives phone calls from across the country asking for the brochure, which outlines all the issues in the diaper debate. Although the association favors the choice of cloth diapers, Bruck says the decision is up to parents.
"We're trying to teach consumers to make informed choices about health care and health care products," she said.
The association also emphasizes other health and environment issues involved in diapering: urging parents to dump feces in the toilet before disposing of diapers and to wash their hands thoroughly with soap and water after changing a diaper.
Consumer Reports also made an extensive report on all facets of the diaper dilemma in its August 1991 issue. The magazine compared different brands of cloth and disposable diapers and took a sophisticated look at the environmental issues.
In comparing research findings, Consumer Reports makes it clear that the results of each study are directly related to which industry paid for the research. In March 1990, Arthur D. Little Inc. released the results of a study commissioned by Procter & Gamble, which makes Luvs and Pampers. The report concluded that disposables were no worse than cloth diapers, environmentally speaking.
In January 1991, the National Association of Diaper Services released its study, which favored cloth. The magazine said the studies made different assumptions about diaper use, so it's difficult to compare their results.
"How is a consumer to compare a ton of solid waste produced by throwing away disposables with, say, a million gallons of wastewater produced by washing cloth diapers?" the editors of Consumer Reports asked.
The magazine suggests consumers make their own environmental decisions based in part on where they live.
If you live in a region where landfill space is a problem, consider using cloth diapers. If you live in a town or city that has a water shortage, you may want to choose disposables.
The scientists who perfect a better way to dispose of disposable diapers will turn this debate upside down. Companies and government agencies across the country are experimenting with diaper recycling and composting, but there's not much good news to report. You already know about Anderson Diaper Service and its attempts to recycle disposable diapers. Procter & Gamble also funded a national study on this issue, including a demonstration project in King County. P&G concluded diaper recycling is not economical at this time. The company says it is continuing its research into composting.
Advertising claims of biodegradable diapers have been blasted by the federal government. In May, The Federal Trade Commission issued a consent agreement with RMED International. The company agreed it would not make any more unsubstantiated claims that its "Tendercare" disposable diapers are biodegradable and and better for the environment than other disposable diapers when both are sent to landfills or burned as trash.
The FTC agreement said RMED International could say their plastic products will compost when disposed of in a composting facility. But they must say in the same ad that the plastic diapers are not designed to degrade in landfills. The company must also discuss the availability of diaper composting facilities and the approximate percentage of the U.S. population with access to such programs.
The Advertising Standards Authority in England also recently took issue with American diaper company advertising. The agency ruled that disposable manufacturers may not claim environmental equality between disposable and cotton diapers. The Women's Environmental Network in England commissioned an independent analysis of Procter & Gamble data that the company said showed that the overall environmental impacts of disposable and cotton diapers are about equal.
The group petitioned the Advertising Standards Authority and the government agency ordered P&G to submit any further advertising claims on this subject to the ASA's copy advice department for approval.
The jumble of conflicting information and emotions about diapers and the environment helps explain how quickly some people signed up for the Anderson Diaper Service.
Megan F. Smith says she signed up for the recycling service to ease her guilt about using disposable diapers. "I got started with them at the hospital and I've been using disposables ever since," says the mother of two.
She signed up for the service at the end of 1989 and was very excited about getting in on the ground floor of the project.
"I thought I was doing something good," she said. "I was telling all my friends about this terrific service."
The parents involved in the class action lawsuit say they aren't as concerned about the money they paid to have the diapers picked up as they are about the principal of issue.
When Anderson started the project they probably didn't set out to dupe the public, but according to Assistant Attorney General Doug Walsh
they may have jumped the gun on the technology.
Walsh said the basic problem is that recycling diapers is an idea whose time has not yet come. Anderson has proven that it has the technology to separate plastic and pulp, but it did not complete the loop because it didn't find a beneficial end user for the separated products.
Walsh said Anderson separated plastic and pulp and stored the materials until March 11, 1991 when the health department ordered them to remove the materials from the company yard because they posed a health hazard. Anderson took the plastic and pulp to the Puyallup Dump, according to the lawsuit filed at the King County Courthouse. The lawsuit says the company has continued to dump most of the diapers ever since then. Anderson officials have been quoted in Seattle newspapers as disagreeing with the lawsuit charges, saying equipment failures and personnel problems force them to do a small amount of diaper dumping. The attorney general's office says, however, that it has witnesses and even a videotape showing the Anderson Diaper Service truck pulling up to various dumps at various times and disposing of diapers.
Megan and her husband spent about $650 in two and a half years to have disposable diapers picked up at their home for recycling. Now she's involved in the class-action lawsuit to get her money back or at least force the company to put some time and money into improving the environment.
"My husband and I both feel like we've really been taken. We tried to do what was right. We were really excited about this. Then when you find out that it's a big sham, you just get a sick feeling in your stomach," she said.
Megan calls disposable diapers a "miraculous invention," but she says the company that comes up with an economical way to recycle diapers will have an even bigger miracle on their hands.
In the mean time, Megan recommends putting aside $20 a month to send to an ecology group that may be able to help the environment more than Anderson Diaper Service.For more information:
For a copy of their brochure, call the King County Nurses Association at (206) 523-0997 or write to 9500 Roosevelt Way NE, Suite 301, Seattle, WA 98115.
To find out more about the class action lawsuit against Anderson Diaper Service, call attorney Kim Stephens at (206) 682-5600.