Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 12, 1990 TAG: 9008080134
SECTION: PARENTS' GUIDE PAGE: 8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Sara Cox
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
According to "The Continuing Diaper Debate," (Utne Reader, July/August 1989) 18 billion disposable diapers, containing an estimated 2.8 million tons of excrement and urine, are tossed into the waste stream each year in the United States.
That by itself, said Kelly Whitney of Roanoke's Clean Valley Council, as far as individual waste products, is the second largest. It's waste that's bypassing sewage treatment systems. It's waste that's seeping into our earth through water leaching through landfill.
And this is water that picks up bacteria and enters the water system, creating a potential problem resulting from the use of disposable diapers, according to Whitney. Utne Reader also mentioned the increased risk of toxic-shock syndrome in children as a result of disposable diapers.
Whitney pointed out that although these diapers are only 2 to 3 percent of the total national waste stream, because of the plastic they don't decompose quickly.
"Things that normally degrade very quickly don't because a well-designed landfill cuts off air, sunlight and water. It's already slowed down that much more." Whitney said that entire heads of cabbages from the '70s, newspapers from the '50s, carrots that were still orange on the inside, have been found intact in landfills.
According to a study done in February 1989 for Environmental Action magazine, approximately 7,300 diaper changes take place over a period of 30 months in one baby's diaper-using period. That is based on eight changes a day. The approximate cost for this, based on a national average, is $1,533, compared to $975 for a diaper service and $283 for washing cloth diapers at home. The latter cost includes expenses for water, electricity, detergent, and depreciation on the washer and dryer.
Locally, costs may vary. If coupons are used, if diapers are purchased at discount stores and if comparisons are done to some of the newly established diaper services in Roanoke, price may not be the turning point. But, in addition to the new wave of environmental alertness, the bother of using cloth diapers could be an exaggeration.
"To me, it's mainly just changing the habit," said Whitney, who has a baby of her own. "We decided ahead of time that we would be using cloth diapers." She launders her own, and denies that it's a bother.
Diaper duty in the Whitney household entails two to three separate laundry loads a week. The diapers, she said, soak in a Borax solution until they are washed, and the worst problem is carrying the pail downstairs because it's heavy.
But what about the new biodegradable diapers? Not too much is seen of them in Roanoke, and they are more expensive - 35 more was the last figure that Whitney saw.
A friend of hers used them, and "they just fell apart - kind of separated." However, she said that a model recycling program, still in its study stages, is taking place in the Northwestern United States.
The alternative to washing your own or using disposables is to change over to one of the new diaper services in Roanoke or Radford. Mother Earth, which made its first diaper delivery on Feb. 10, services Radford, Blacksburg, Christiansburg, Dublin, Pulaski and a few babies in Floyd County, according to Mary Trammell, one of the three owners.
Although Trammell and her partners, Joanne Wills and Patricia Zeek, conduct business out of their homes, they have contracted with Cooks Clean Center in Radford for the washing of the diapers. Trammell said that they already have roughly 50 customers, not including their Gift Pack customers. These are recipients of their special packages, often given as shower presents, which consist of two weeks' diaper delivery at a discounted rate.
Trammell said she has just been contacted by Radford Community Hospital, which is considering changing over to cloth diapers completely in its nursery.
Mother Earth charges $3 per dozen diapers - a flat rate with no discount except for the Gift Packs.
Reid Thibodeaux's Bottoms Up diaper service in Roanoke, will supply clean diapers and a hamper, and pick up the dirty diapers once a week. Approximate cost is about $45 a month, based on 17 cents a diaper.
And, he said, if fewer diapers are used, his customers will receive the rebate the following month. The diapers are cleaned in 180-degree water, completely sterilized, and washed in low-phosphate detergents. He also plans to hire strictly handicapped people, and has had delays opening his business because of the special washing machines required to do so.
Another new diaper service - there weren't any a few months ago - is Earth Baby, owned and run by Jeannette and Tom Prest. "This is our first time we've owned and run a business," she said. "When I was pregnant with our son - now a year old - we talked about it and decided to do it. I like conveniences but am aware of the environment. I knew there were a lot of moms interested in this."
She said that she heard diapers alone total 2 percent of Roanoke's landfill, although the Clean Valley Council had no figures on this.
Dr. Douglas Althouse, a pediatrician with Pediatric Associates in Roanoke, said that from an environmental standpoint, "there's no question that cloth diapers are superior and the wave of the future."
Although the ultra disposables pull moisture away from the inner core of the diaper better than other diapers, Prest said that Earth Baby diapers are 100 percent cotton, and 14-ply - "the heaviest weight available. People said that their baby's diaper rash has cleared up," once they started using her cloth diapers.
Prest's clients, which now total more than 70 in the Roanoke area, receive information first, then a personal visit to discuss details and receive instructions in the use of these diapers. They are prefolded and come with a free Nikky Velcro diaper cover, which eliminates the use of pins. Clients are also supplied with free hamper liners, which are delivered along with the clean diapers once a week when the dirty ones are picked up. Just put them out and they're picked up. No presence required.
Earth Baby prices range from $11 a week for newborns to $10 a week for babies using only 40 diapers in seven days. The business also sells biodegradable travel diapers.
Although the idea of returning to cloth diapers is acceptable and preferable to many mothers - Prest said that they are so busy they are just now getting ready to make proposals to the area hospitals - area day-care centers haven't quite caught the cloth fever. The Downtown Learning Center has just decided that it will accept babies in cloth diapers, but hampers must be provided and must be toted home every night.
And Utne Reader magazine reported that "75 to 80 percent of new mothers are automatically introduced to disposables in the hospital when their baby is born . . . and many public assistance programs also discourage the use of cloth diapers. For example, Environmental Acion reports that the federal WIC (Women, Infants and Children) program will cover the cost of disposable diapers, but doesn't include cotton diapers or diaper services on its list of permitted products."
Oonagh Currie, director of maternal child nursing at Community Hospital, said that she has brought up the idea of the hospital's trying cloth diapers, but nothing has been decided. The University of Virginia Medical Center is using cloth, as is St. Mary's Hospital in Richmond.
"Once you have children, it makes a bigger impact," said Whitney. I think about it as an environmental legacy. That's the way I've justified it."
by CNB