My kids are no longer in diapers, but if they were I'd definitely give gDiapers a try. Admittedly, I am swayed by the adorable covers they offer, but I am sold on their environmental ingenuity. They call themselves the hybrid of diapers: not disposable, not cloth.
The Natural Resources Defense Council even says, "gDiapers seem to have the environmental edge over more conventional choices because they send no material to the landfill, use no elemental chlorine or plastics, and require much less washing (therefore, less water and energy usage) than regular cloth diapers."
And to really vouch for their environmental considerations, gDiapers was the first consumer packaged product to receive prestigious ‘Cradle to Cradle’ Certification. (Cradle to Cradle is a must-read book by William McDonough and Michael Braungart). The certification supports what McDonough and Braungart call the “new industrial revolution,” a design paradigm that seeks to transform human industry through ecologically intelligent design. The gDiapers website says, "That means everything that goes into one of our flushables gets re-absorbed back into the eco-system in a neutral or beneficial way. So you are turning waste into a resource. At the same time, you are putting poop in the toilet, where it belongs, and avoiding the landfill issue all together." As you can tell, that certification holds a lot of merit for me.
So how do these diapers work exactly? They have a flushable liner which snaps into adorable little "g-pants." I'm sold just on the styling alone! They look so much more comfortable than a plastic diaper.
The gDiapers website has loads of really great information in a simple, easy to grasp style. Check out their page on the "great diaper debate" which compares disposables, cloth and flushables.
Here are some other facts from their site:
- gDiapers have no elemental chlorine, no perfumes, no smell, no garbage and no guilt. In fact, flushables are so gentle on the Earth you can even garden compost the wet ones in one compost cycle, approximately 50 – 150 days
- gDiapers are breathable. Plastic-free flushable refills keep babies dry and happy, so they’re less likely to get diaper rash
- Last year alone, 18-23 billion diapers went into landfills across America. That works out to be approximately 38,000 every minute and adds up to about 3.5 million tons of waste
- a disposable diaper can take up to 500 years to biodegrade in a landfill
I know there are other types of diaper alternatives out there, and I'll write about them soon also. If you've used gDiapers please leave a comment and let me know what you think.
And for the record, I'm in no way affliated with this or any other company. I don't get paid to write anything on this blog and I don't accept advertising.
7 comments:
Another thing to consider (besides saved environmental costs) is the financial cost of these diapers. When I spoke with someone from the company at this year's ExpoWest, I asked her if these diapers would be feasibly affordable for consumers over the course of a baby's diaper-wearing years. She replied that though the cost of the diapers would end up being about 30% more than conventional (such as Huggies, etc), this was almost exactly the cost of Seventh Generation diapers over the same period. And, while Seventh Generation's diapers are processed chlorine-free, they aren't fully recyclable, and aren't at all compostable. Or course, gDiapers can be composted easily, so it seems to me that, for the cost, gDiapers are a much, much better buy.
Thanks so much for posting about gDiapers. I really appreciate it! It's been a long road since leaving Australia to launch it here in the US but it has been well worth it!
Cheers
Jason
dad/ CEO
gDiapers
one more consideration with gDiapers. is your sewer company OK to handle extra solids? i just attended a master recycler class put on by Metro/the Office of Sustainable development in Portland, OR and an expert from the Dept. of Evironmental Quality spoke about how ours is a very overtaxed sewage system and actually overflows into rivers when over capacity (major rainstorms included). so he was of the opinion that putting the gDiaper liner in the sewage system was a bad idea (the composting aspect wasn't discussed). he also noted that in the Portland Metro area we are very well served by a landfill that is modern and ample to serve for approx. 100 years. so his opinion was to not use a flushable product. this whole thing took me by surprise and shocked me since i was very excited about gDiapers, had tried them and liked them. just goes to show that being green is rarely easy, with choices never very cut and dried as to what is better or worse for the environment.
I've used gDiapers and love them (we primarily use cloth diapers). Flushing them has no extra impact on the sewage system - it is like flushing toilet paper, plus whatever waste is on the diaper (certainly less than any adult in the household).
i've been using disposable diaper fo my baby.i don't have a washing machine so cloth diaper didn't look so convient.i've been using yhe gDiaper for a week.My problems with them were the price,for people who use disposable would think it's way too expensive(no sales)i foung that my son only wet a small section of the diaper.i would think of this of a waste since the rest of the liner was stll dry.i even waited long between changing,then had to change his clothes baecause the insert bunched up.For a poop,the liner got stain even when i treated it immediatly even with chlorine free bleach!?The is expensive when you basically only use 75% of the liner!
i have been using gdiapers since 2005 when i first found them on the yeah baby expo list of exhibitors. although they ended up not showing, i looked them up online and fell inlove. i have been using them ever since, now with baby #2 at 10months old. they are super easy to use and once you figure out the fit for your baby and where they leak, you can easily adjust for the perfect fit. i love it because i can flush the poops down the toilet and use the peeps either in the garden or throw away. our toilet cannot handle flushing all the diapers it gets too clogged but one can feel good that they biodegrade in 50-150 days. the cost if very comparable to using huggies or other expensive brand diapers, and with no guilt.
plus now they have made gcloth, hemp cloth inserts that are taylor for the perfect fit in the g cover so one can use the flushables while out and cloth at home with the convience of both.
right now they are also having a promotion using us gmums and gdads to spread the word. one can get a 6pack of gcovers 3 orange and 3 vanilla bean for $40 with a gmum coupon code. if we get enough people to use them we get a gift certificate and help really spread the word. my code is g727mawson and will be grateful if people even just take the time to look at gdiapers.com and see whats going on.
plus they have really improved their velcro over the years, i have a set that is 5 years old and had to resew the velcro and the new one have industrial like velco and hold awesome.
again, these are very easy diapers to get used to, just have to get over the initial hurdle of swishing and flushing and finding the perfect fit. but it is well worth the time and the investment!!
oh and when we have wet inserts, i almost always cut off the dry part and reuse as a double up at night. this way i dont feel like i am throwing away 60% of a perfectly good ginsert. i think this may help some people who feel like they are throwing away money. i never do it with the poops(obvious reasons) and always flush them. trust me, the small cut part underneath a full insert at night has been a life saver for leaks, and it has made it so both my girls could sleep all night without getting soaked!!!
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