Difficult choice to made,please help.

zaraceligon

I never thought to be on the situation,I think I have to say good buy to cloth diapers. I when to the bay area last weekend, and is very sad to see everything so dry, a see some fruit farm close and all the trees death, and see the lake from Santa Cruz all ready gone,and some of the water reservoir been low, it makes me think about stop using cloth diapers. Anyway I'm already using flats and just overnight fitted. But my question is what should I do? What's the best thing to do versus throwing a diaper on the land field or been more conscious about water. Any opinion is appreciated ladies thank you.

Brandiewine11

That's tough. I'd personally say that if you are doing what you can to minimize the laundry (washing EOD or maybe every 3rd day?) that it is better to do that than have tons of disposables sitting in a landfill for 20 years. You've also already spent money on your diapers and sposies are not cheap...especially if you have 2 in diapers. 

With the ages of your LO's, I'd just keep going with cloth.

mrshudson618

This is a very complicated issue. Yes, cloth uses more water. 

But studies have shown that disposables use as much as 70% more energy to produce than cloth. 

I would look at as many other ways to save water as possible first, before quitting cloth. Small things like cutting a couple minutes off each shower can make a bigger difference than you think.

mrshudson618

According to a 1991 study, cloth diapers use 37% less water than disposables when you take manufacturing into account. Not necessarily as helpful when you have a LOCAL water issue, but something to take into account.

ETA:13 Lehrburger C., Mullen J., Jones C.V., “Diapers: Environmental impacts and lifecycle analysis”, The National Association of 

Diaper Services, 1991.

violajack

I live in the Bay Area and I will keep using my cloth. I don't have a lawn. We don't wash our car. We have super low flow toilets. We take short showers (when I even get time to take a shower). There are so many other ways to minimize water usage in the home. The occasional extra load of laundry is not why we're in a drought right now. 

blondolphn

Pretty much what everyone else is saying. Tough decision.

Kelly11235

I agree with everything above, but in the spirit of providing some other options....

Are you in/near San Francisco? There's a diaper service that does composting for disposables.  https://www.earth-baby.com/home.php

You didn't post your laundry routine, but if you're using flats you *may* be able to use just one wash (no pre-rinse, no post-rinse) if you're careful with the amount of detergent you use.  If you need to, you can replace the ON diaper with a disposable, and it would simplify the wash routine.

You may also want to consider washing by hand, and using the rinse water for something else, if you use an environmentally safe detergent.  It could be used to water outdoor plants, or possibly when flushing a toilet?

PipSqueak0313

Or save your shower water to use for the pre-wash rinsing of the diapers.

freezorburn

You could also save your water from washing vegetables to use for your pre-rinse.

I agree that limiting shower to 5 minutes, or just turning on the spray to initially wet yourself, then off to lather up, then on again to rinse off could save a lot of water.

I remember living in the Bay Area and often having some late summer concerns about the water supply. Yes, it's important to do your part while your area is on restrictions, but remember that winter rains will come again, and in the long term as PPs said, CD is more environmentally friendly from many standpoints.

zaraceligon

Thank you ladies, I feel better now. And again thank you.

Kelly11235

I don't want George Bush to see me naked.

Either of them.