Eco-Friendly Diapers
Green and easy (we swear!) alternatives to the plastic diaper.
By Sarah Schmidt
- Greener Disposables
WINNER: Nature Babycare, from $12 for 44, Diapers.com.
Leave it to the Scandinavians to design a better disposable. These cream-colored diapers from Sweden won rave reviews from our testers and are now available stateside. They're chlorine-free and made of Forest Stewardship Council–certified wood pulp and a corn-based bioplastic. Wet ones can even be composted—as can the bioplastic packaging they come in.
RUNNERS-UP: Seventh Generation (from $12 for 44, Diapers.com) and Whole Foods 365 (from $10 for 34, Whole Foods for stores).
Both brands are made of wood pulp and are also free of chlorine.
- More-Convenient Cloth
WINNER: Bum Genius, $18 for one, Diapers.com.
Not to be outdone, cloth diapers are also taking a few cues from disposables. The Bum Genius diapers have superabsorbent microfiber inserts, stretch nicely to fit your baby, and fasten easily with Velcro. There is even a supersoft bamboo version for the ultimate in bum comfort.
RUNNERS-UP: FuzziBunz, ($18 for one, Diapers.com) uses snaps instead of Velcro and Happy Heinys, ($19, Diapers.com), offers styles with either Velcro or snaps. Also smart are the new Bambino Mio (from $35 for eight nappies, Giggle for stores) cotton-blend jersey diapers with 100 percent cotton inserts and biodegradable and flushable liners.
- The hybrid
WINNER: gDiapers, from $27 for a starter kit with two pairs of pants and 10 inserts, Diapers.com.
Probably the eco-friendliest of all (and the only model in this category), gDiapers combine the best features of cloth and disposable and add zero waste to the landfill. Colorful cotton "little g" pants have elastic legs, Velcro tabs, and a plastic liner that holds an insert made of sustainably farmed wood pulp that can be simply flushed away. Few of our testers encountered any plumbing problems at all—even those who lived in century-old apartment buildings. But if you're worried about your pipes, wet ones can be also composted in the garden; they will completely biodegrade in as little as 50 days.
