Why Cloth Diapers? Part 2

I've talked about my main reason for cloth diapering - finances, but I want to talk a little more about my secondary reasons for choosing to use cloth diapers.

Environment - We live in an apartment and they pick up the trash 5 days per week. We had to make sure to put out a bag of disposable diapers 2 times per week so that we wouldn't overflow on the days that they didn't do trash pick up. 2 trash bags of diapers per week for the 14 months that we used disposables is over 112 bags that I added to the landfill. And those bags take something like 100 years to decompose. Now, we use a wicker basket with a Planet Wise diaper pail liner and when we wash the diapers, we throw the liner in with it. No additions to the landfill!

Health - When I was researching cloth diapers, I came across a number of articles that discussed the health impact of disposable diapers, citing issues with chemicals found in the diapers due to the bleaching process (dioxin) and sodium polyacrylate, a type of super absorbent polymer (SAP). Dioxin is linked to cancer, even in small doses and SAP is what is linked to Toxic Shock Syndrome in tampons. Neither of these things is what I wanted sitting against my little man's skin all day and night!

Fashion - I have to admit, this was not one of my reasons that I started using cloth diapers, but one of the things I have enjoyed since we started - cloth is so much cuter than disposable! My little man has camo, cow print, tiger print, and lots of fun solid colors. I am going to have to take a picture of our stash to share. If I ever have a girl, it could get very dangerous because there are sooooo many cute girl prints!