Flushable Diapers?
Yes, its true! The geniuses at gDiapers have found a middle ground that helps make baby’s bottom a little greener - without all the extra work and nastiness of cloth diapers. Admittedly, gDiapers require a little more effort than disposables, but the extra effort is more than offset by the satisfaction that comes from seeing those dirties disappear down the toilet.
No mountain of disposables in the local landfill, no questionable chemicals next to baby’s bottom, and as an extra bonus, no more stinky diaper pails in your living areas!
Even if you think your house’s plumbing can’t handle the gDiapers, you can always toss them in the garbage like a regular disposable. When sent to the landfill, gDiapers decompose in about 90 days, or about 500 years faster than disposables decompose. Additionally, gDiapers are compostable. Haven’t tried this one yet, but for all of you ultra-composters it might be good to know this is an option.
Before you completely write off the flushing option, check out the How-To tips and videos on the gDiaper site. It doesn’t really require the industrial strength flush that you might be envisioning. Done as instructed, those dirties go right down. Done incorrectly, you’ll get some blockage but not on a catastrophic scale. Though I have to admit that we keep a plunger nearby just-in-case.
On the minus side, gDiapers are more expensive than disposables. My unscientific research shows that using gDiapers will cost you almost 75% more than disposables if you buy your disposables in regular retail outlets, and about 100% more if you buy your disposables at a warehouse store like Costco. No idea how they compare to cloth diapers.
In the spirit of full disclosure, I need to say that I am a RAVING FAN of gDiapers and am completely biased. If you want balanced info about the pro’s and con’s of gdiapers vs cloth diapers, you might need to keep googling. Of course, I’m not opposed to doing a joint post with someone who is devoted to cloth… I just need a contributing author.
In any case, gDiaper and cloth use is not a mutually exclusive choice. Many cloth diaper advocates use the gDiaper liners and covers, and just swap the flushable pads for cloth inserts. Apparently the marriage of the two is a wonderful thing. Browsing the gDiaper Yahoo Group shows the cloth diaper community to be more active contributors than the flushable community. Not sure if that means there are more questions to ask because using cloth is more complicated, or if the flushie group is just quieter. Either way, the group is a fabulous resource for anyone using or interested in using gDiapers.
If you’re interested in checking out gdiapers for yourself, they offer Starter Kits that have everything you need to get going. Choose one of these links for the starter kits:
Want to take it a step farther? Use flushable wipes! Try these. We love, love, love them!
Tags: compost, decompose, flushable diaper, gdiaper, green baby