There are three main benefits of cloth diapers: preserving the environment, saving money and maintaining good health. The debate over cloth versus disposable diapers has been going on for many years and will probably continue for many more. You may already know about some of the many benefits to cloth diapers, but we've compiled a list below for your information. . . just in case you haven't heard about ALL the benefits yet!

Environmental impact
Both types of diapers, cloth and disposable, have an environmental impact. Each require resources to make, each require resources to deliver diapers to the consumer and each require some form of "disposal" (for cloth diapers this means washing and drying and for disposable diapers this means tossing them into the trash). We have not been able to find one source which provides an un-biased report of the true cost of each option, so below we've compiled environmental facts to each side of the debate so that you can make up your own mind.

Cloth Diapers vs. Disposable Diapers. . . Round 1

Consideration	Cloth Diaper	Disposable Diaper
Resources required in manufacturing	Cloth diapers, most often made from cotton, use about 30lbs of cotton per 6 dozen diapers. Although a natural substance, cotton does require large amounts of water and pesticides. The environmental impact of cotton production can be reduced by selecting diapers made from organic cotton, bambo or hemp.	1 billion trees are used diaper production each year in North America. In Canada alone, 75.5 million pounds of paper goes into the production of 1.7 billion disposable diapers. Now paper products come from a renewable resource; however, common practice when harvesting this resource usually involves clear cutting which destroys enormous numbers of ecosystems versus selective harvesting which would have less negative impact on the ecosystems.
Waste water	Water waste created from the production of cotton may contain pesticides if not grown organically. As it is recommended to use biodegradable detergents for washing your cloth diapers, the water from your washing machine is generally hazardous. Waste water can be reduced by using an EnergySmart front loading washing machine (these use about 50% less water than top loading) or by selecting appropriate water levels depending on your load size.	Water waste created from the production of pulp, paper, and plastics used in disposable diapers contains harmful ingredients such as dioxins, sludge, solvents, and heavy metals.
Petroleum	Many cloth diapers do not contain any petroleum products. However, plastic snaps, Velcro and water proof covers are made from petroleum. To put this into perspective, the amount used for the snaps and Velcro is quite small and you do not use nearly as many waterproof covers as disposable diapers, so the total amount of petroleum used is much less than with disposable diapers.	A valuable, non-renewable and diminishing resource, petroleum, is used to produce the plastic in the disposable diaper and in the packaging. 3.5 billon gallons of oil are used to produce 18 million disposable diapers each year.
Time to decompose	From 6 months for standard cotton diapers, and longer for diapers with other materials.	It is estimated that it will take over 500 years in a landfill when buried airtight.
Sewage Treatment	Sewage is properly treated in approved treatment facilities/systems as feces are flushed down toilets and urine is removed during washing.	Sewage treatment. . .what sewage treatment? The diapers make it to our landfills where the untreated sewage is prone to leach contaminant and possibly disease. In fact, dumping human waste into landfills violates World Health Organization guidelines.
Volume of garbage	Negotiable. Once you finish using your cloth diapers for one baby, you can either use them again for another child, sell or give them to someone else to use, or if they are prefold or contours, turn them into dusting/cleaning rags. Eventually when the cloth diaper has been used to the max and it makes it to an landfill it will breakdown much more quickly than disposable diapers. The amount of garbage entering our landfills due to cloth diapers is extremely low (mind you less than 10% of Canadian families are currently using cloth diapers).	Huge! Assuming each baby uses at least 6000 diapers over his/her first 2-3 years, this results in 2 ½ tonnes of waste per child added to our landfills. With more than 90% of Canadian families using disposable diapers, we throw away 1.7 billion disposable diapers every year. Diapers account for 2% of solid waste (or 30% of total non-biodegradable waster) in our landfills.

Cost

Cloth Diapers
These figures are based upon using one of the products we carry, Bum Genius One-Size Pocket Diaper sold at bulk retail price ($22.85/each). This scenario also takes into account washing diapers every second day and the child being toilet trained by 2 years old.

2 dozen One-Size Diapers	$549
Inserts (included with diaper)	$0
Laundering Costs* (365 days)	$365
Wet Bags (med + X-large bags)	$35
Reusable Wipes (24)	$12
Total Cost	$961

*Laundering is based on energy consumption, water, laundry products, depreciation on the washer and dryer and is averaged per load at $1.00 Cdn.

Disposables
Based on purchasing diapers at Walmart and in the largest sized bags available per size (NB diapers cost $0.35/diaper while other sizes cost approx. $0.23/diaper). This does not include transportation to/from the store every time you buy another package or the costs of garbage disposal. We also assumed potty training to occur ½ year later at age 2 ½ years old as babies in cloth diapers often potty train earlier than babies in disposable diapers.

Age 0-6 months (12 diapers/day * $0.27/diaper):	$591
Age 6 months-1 year (10 diapers/day * $0.23/diaper):	$420
Age 1 year - 2 ½ years (8 diapers/day * $0.23/diaper):	$1008
Disposable Wipes (1wipe/diaper change *$0.03 each):	$252
Total Cost	$2271

Savings in our scenario. . .$1310 for just one child. If you use the diapers for a second child you would save an additional $1900!

How much is it going to cost you and how much can you save?. . .find out below with an automatic calculator which allows you to input the variables.
http://www.diaperpin.com/calculator/calculator.asp#calculator

Health impact
Less diaper rash
Before disposable diapers, in 1959 an article was published in the Journal of Paediatrics, which determined only 7.1% babies in a one-time clinical study had diaper rash (Tanino, 1959). In a study of diaper rash in the 1980's, some twenty years after the invention of disposable diapers, 63% of 1,050 babies had diaper rash at least once in an 8-week period (Gaunder and Plummer, 1987). It is thought that more diaper rashes may occur in babies wearing disposable diapers because they are often changed less frequently compared to babies wearing cloth diapers and/or due to the various chemicals used in the processing of disposable diapers which may irritate baby's skin (more on these two points below).

Longer time in disposable diapers
Typically, babies wearing cloth diapers require changes every 2-3 hours. Babies wearing disposable diapers are usually not changed as frequently. Often babies in disposable diapers spend more time in a diaper between changes which results in increased urine in the diaper, which leads to potential for bacteria growth. When ammonia (which is found in urine) mixes with plastic, baby's skin is not able to breath as well which leads to the increased potential for bacteria growth.

Faster toilet training
There have been several studies completed which show that cloth diapered babies on average potty train earlier than babies who used disposable diapers. On average, cloth diapered babies were potty trained by 18 months, compared to babies in disposables which were potty trained by 40 months. The main reasoning behind this is because a cloth diaper actually gets wet so your child can feel when he/she has gone to the washroom. Compared to a disposable diaper in which a child does not feel the wetness due to the absorbent chemicals. Cloth diapered babies not artificially removed from the consequence of relieving themselves (i.e. a wet diaper) which helps in the potty training. Personally, we are all for faster potty trained babies because it make our lives easier!

Chemicals & sensitive skin
There are numerous chemicals used in disposable diapers, some of which may cause skin irritations and other which some groups/individuals are concerned about for other health reasons.
Have you ever noticed some bits of gel on your baby after using disposables? In the days before we switched to cloth diapers we saw these bits of gel on our babies, and found out that they are sodium polyacrylate. It's a type of super absorbent polymer (SAP), which becomes a gel-like substance when wet. That's what makes disposable diapers so absorbent thus reducing the frequency of diaper changes.
During the bleaching process for disposable diapers, a by-product called Dioxin (a carcinogenic chemical) is emitted and trace amounts can be found on the actual diapers. This toxic chemical is considered a cancer-causing chemical and many countries have banned this substance (note: Canada and the USA have not yet banned it).
Finally, disposable diapers also contain the chemical Tributyl-tin. This is a toxic pollutant known to cause hormonal problems in humans and animals.

Sperm counts/Scrotal temperature
In May 2000, the Archives of Disease in Childhood published research showing that scrotal temperature in boys wearing disposable diapers was higher. They also concluded that prolonged use of disposable diapers will blunt or completely abolish the physiological testicular cooling mechanism important for normal spermatogenesis.