A little over a year ago Eva told us about a study conducted in the United Kingdom, financed with public funds, in which they compared the impact that disposable diapers and reusable cloth diapers had on the environment.
Contrary to what many people might think, they concluded that the impact was practically the same, taking into account the water and electricity spent to wash and dry cloth diapers. This study has been recently reviewed in Spain (at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, to be more exact), confirming that the results obtained in the study are correct. But nevertheless…
What was taken into account to do the study
The original study done in the United Kingdom was intended to know if cloth diapers, increasingly used, were actually greener than disposable diapers. In order to obtain the comparative data, they took into account all the phases of the diaper life cycle: the components that each diaper carries and how to obtain that raw material, the manufacturing process, the packaging, the transport to the distribution points, the amount of energy, water and other resources spent during use and what happens to the diaper once it has been used.
Well, according to the study “Analysis of the life cycle of disposable and disposable diapers” (which you can read here), carried out by the Environmental Agency of Great Britain, which was revised in 2008 and which, as we have said, it was reviewed last year in Spain, there are no significant differences between the environmental impact of single-use diapers and cloth diapers.
Taking a look at the data
According to the study, the impact on global warming of disposable diapers, taking into account that a child uses them two and a half years, is 415 kg of CO2. If children use cloth diapers and with average washing and drying habits, the impact is about 490 kg of CO2.
Dr. Antonio Espuña, from UPC, has confirmed that The conclusions of this study are also valid for Spain. Espuña declared the following in this regard:
It can be affirmed that the conclusions of the study of the United Kingdom are applicable to the geographical and temporal scope of Spain at present. This means that the overall environmental impact of disposable and reusable diapers is equivalent under these conditions.
But nevertheless…
Finally we come to the "though" of the title and the "however" of the second paragraph. If we read the conclusions of the study carried out in the United Kingdom, we see that the results are based on a medium scenario, that is, on more or less balanced customs of washing and drying that would be followed there, but that they may be different here in Spain.
That is, if we alter the scenarios that in the study were taken into account for comparison the results would be very variable.
For example, if a Spanish family that uses cloth diapers takes into account that the weather in Spain is much better than in the United Kingdom and decides that, instead of drying the diapers once washed, hang them on a rope to dry in the air, if this same family considers that the washing machines must be done at full load (without doing half-load washing machines with diapers) and if this family also has a second child and uses the same diapers of the first with the little one, the impact about global warming would be 40% lower, equivalent to 200 kg of CO2.
That is, changing the customs of families could say that Cloth diapers can contaminate almost half of disposable diapers.
However, as not all families have the same customs, conditions could also occur that would turn the tortilla as commented. If a family uses cloth diapers with only one child and if they also decide to dry each and every diaper with the dryer, the impact on the environment would be 43% higher.
But wait, this can be even worse. If a family washes the diapers at 90ºC instead of 60ºC (which is how they did the calculation for the medium scenario) it would be generating an impact 31% higher. That is, if a family puts the washing machines at 90 ° C and also dries them all in a dryer, the total impact on global warming would be 74% higher than using disposable diapers.
Concluding
The results are very variable to draw a conclusion. In Spain we enjoy a sun that in the United Kingdom does not usually have, so here it is feasible to dry cloth diapers outdoors. If we also use them with more than one child we will be doing the planet a favor. Now, if we wash and dry them all with a dryer, we will be contaminating more than with disposable diapers.
Making a decision about which diapers to use is complicated, because you have to look at many factors when choosing. If we focus only on the issue of pollution, with good customs and taking into account that, even if we contaminate the same, some generate kilos and kilos of waste and others do not, the preference for cloth diapers would be clear. In addition, using cloth is cheaper, as you spend up to 600 euros less. However, at the moment of truth, single-use ones give better results in terms of skin absorption and protection, as the OCU will explain in its day.
If you ask me, I will not answer, not today, because we are in the phase of mixed diaper use. A few days ago we bought a cloth diaper to try it and it is too early to offer conclusions.
