Simon sent me an article (free registration required) from the New York Times about toilet training infants. The idea is to train the babies to go potty without using the diapers. Diaper Free Baby, a nonprofit organization with members all over the world, has been a driving force behind the cause. While many parents who succeed in trying the techniques have sworn by them, I am just not sure about the long term implications of subjecting young infants to such activities when they are not cognitively ready.
On the other hand, I do feel bad about contributing to part of the 18 million diapers that ended up in the landfills every year. Some researchers have talked about the promise of biodegradable diapers. But others are not quite as optimistic about prospects of such products being cheap and available enough to make an impact.
Through a website maintained by the State of California, I found some companies that make it a business plan to deliver/recycle reusable diapers. The idea is the service provider will provide resuable diapers, collect the soil ones and deliver the fresh ones on a monthly basis for a fee. But here’s the catch, I wonder what the impact is on the environment with all the gasoline, clean water, electricity and detergent used to provide such service on a regular basis. The research figures on the environmental impacts of disposable diapers are daunting. But I’d also want to find out, like wise, what the total cost/environmental impact is for reusable diapers. In addition, just how hygienic is it to share reusable diapers with potentially hundreds of other babies?