Cloth or disposable? The diaper dilemma is one that environmentally conscious parents have faced ever since the first throwaways hit the market in 1961. And for decades there was no easy answer. Disposables take a lot of energy to produce and are made of petroleum-based plastic and chlorine bleach. Not to mention they add 3 million tons of waste to landfills each year and take upwards of 100 years to decompose.
But cloth is not the tree-hugging option it seems at first glance. What about all that water, detergent, and bleach used to wash them? Not to mention the gas that diaper services use to truck them around. The two worlds are so fraught that after a much-discussed study on diaper impact came out in 1990, environmental groups threw up their hands and admitted that neither was much good for the planet.
But now it seems that things are changing. "People who want to do the right thing don't have to give up convenience," says Alex Kennaugh, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council's Green Living program (and mother of a 20-month-old). Not only are companies making disposables out of eco-friendly materials—like corn-based plastics and chlorine-free wood pulp—but the cloth varieties are becoming less of a headache as newer versions include Velcro tabs and moisture-wicking microfleece.
How to pick among all of these options? We talked to dozens of parents, tested out a slew, and found the best performing, most-convenient choices—all of which are as kind to babies' bottoms as they are to the planet because they're made of breathable materials and free of potentially irritating fragrances, bleach, and dyes. And as an added bonus, none feature garish cartoon characters. See our favorites.
