diaper industry

The throwaway diaper industry has soared, which means the price of disposables has gone down, making them more affording to the average consumer. Of course, the price consumers pay does not cover the whole cost. There are long-term social costs from waste, short-term social costs from environmental devastation at the site of manufacture, and other costs are borne by all of us in a variety of ways. Each year, there are 27.4 billion disposable diapers that are consumed every year in the U.S. alone. How long can this level of consumption continue?

Diaper services are a convenient gem in the cloth diapering world, and there are many benefits to using one. Mark Stief, owner of Baby Diaper Service in Seattle, says, “We keep one million diapers a year out of landfills. I don’t know what industry does more for the environment”. He describes his eco-friendly washing formula which he spent eight years perfecting. He uses industrial washers and dryers, and natural chemicals. Although bleach is used, he says it is only about two cups for every 250 pounds of diapers. “It’s not much”, he says.

diapers service

Laundering and sanitation are checked by NADS on a regular basis. Jack Shiffert says that diaper service members of NADS follow high standards of cleaning specified by NADS. These include random bacteria checks, meticulous laundering procedures, and high temperature dryers. Shiffert believes diaper services, “… get the diapers cleaner than someone who washes diapers at home.”

For parents who want to use cloth, diaper services can be very convenient. For people like Julie Tonroy of San Francisco, washing her son’s diapers was not an option. “Unfortunately, our 100 year-old flat in San Francisco is not equipped with a washer and dryer.” Not wanting to wash the diapers at a laundromat and not wanting to use disposables, Julie looked for a local diaper service and was pleased to find Tiny Tots. She likes using the service not only because they deliver fresh diapers each week, but also because they have other helpful services. “The video library has been invaluable. Upon my request after having my son, the diaper service sent (for free) video tapes on nursing and diapering which were extremely informative,” Tonroy says.

Diapers simply

Another benefit to diaper services is that diapers usually do not need to be dunked, soaked or washed. Diapers from a service can go through as many as fourteen stages of cleaning before they are dried. At Tiny Tots, they use a cleaning “tunnel” that is divided into ten modules, each with a unique function in the cleaning process. All of these steps make discarding a soiled diaper as convenient as using a throwaway diaper. As Julie Tonroy says, “Diapers simply get put in the pail, they are taken away once a week, and we receive our new delivery of fresh clean diapers. How convenient is that?”

Unlike Julie Tonroy, most people across the U.S. have no diaper service available to them. But this can change if the demand for cloth diapers increases. Shiffert says in order for cloth diapers to gain popularity, “There needs to either be a reawakening of environmental awareness or something bad to happen as result of using disposables.” While we hope this is not the case, it is nevertheless important for parents to be educated about all of the options available to them, and to understand the benefits of cloth diapering. All supporters of cloth can be part of this educational movement and work together in making new parents aware of their choices. Diaper services are our partners in this mission. Judy Aagard says, “We’re always happy to hear of people who do their own diapers! We don’t think of them or other diaper services as competition but rather allies