Cloth Diapers in Earnshaws Magazine

This month's issue of Earnshaw's magazine - a magazine for retailers - has a 2-page spread about cloth diapers and how great they are! The article points out that cloth diapers are a great choice for parents who want to save money - and the planet. Cloth diaper parents are also likely to try to convert their friends to cloth. (guilty!) It's great to know that cloth diapers are becoming more mainstream and even trendy! They included a bunch of fun facts about cloth diapers that I thought I would pass along to you.

*Babies require approximately 6,000 diaper changes in the first two years.

*Approximately 27.4 billion disposable diapers are used in the United States annually.

*Disposable diapers are the third largest single consumer item in landfills; they comprise 50 percent of household waste in homes with children.

*While waste is supposed to be deposited in the toilet before discarding diapers, less than 0.5 percent of waste from single-use diapers goes into the sewer system.

*Disposable diapers contain a super-absorbent polymer that has been linked to toxic-shock syndrome.

*It is estimated that disposable diapers take between 250 and 300 years to decompose.

*More than 300 pounds of wood, 50 pounds of petroleum feedstocks, and 20 pounds of chlorine are used to produce disposables for one baby for a year.

*The manufacturing and use of disposable diapers amounts to 2.3 times more waste than cloth.

*Based on calculations in the San Francisco Bay Area, disposable diapers will cost $1600 while cloth diapering will cost between $300 - $1000.