Most environmentally friendly type of CD?

[ShareBear]

I'm thinking about what kind of cloth diaper would be most environmentally friendly. I'm thinking maybe it would be something like organic cotton flats--organic for obvious reasons, flats because they dry so easily that I would (theoretically at least) be able to line dry them indoors if it were rainy. My prefolds will NOT line dry indoors when it's rainy/humid--trust me, I've tried.

Any thoughts? Other factors that I'm not considering?

[MommaShark]

From what I know I'd say flats with wool soakers are the best option for the environment. If you're anti wool - go with a PUL cover - less washing (can wipe clean and easy care).
Flats use less water to wash and dry in a flash - I've dried them inside forever.
I like the organic caboose (wool) (zoom baby gear had good prices when I got mine) and natural blue cloud covers (wool) from etsy.
Metal dritz pins too.

[jldumm]

i know this may not be what you want to hear but think about ec'ing. any catch on the potty is one less diaper to launder or put in a landfill. def a consideration for us when we started.

[Juliacat]

Organic cotton flats, for sure. With organic wool covers.

[Ola_]

I've heard somewhere that bamboo takes less resources to grow than cotton, so that may be something you want to find out about.

[Carlin]

2nd hand organic flats!
Or really 2nd hand anything is pretty good. Your reasoning about washing and drying seems right on to me too.

[MommaShark]

Well, after thinking about it - the most eco friendly option would be to make flats from old sheets/towels/t-shirts/receiving blankets.........and make wool soakers out of re purposed sweaters

re bamboo - it's processed like rayon usually which is NOT good...and may introduce heavy metals into the fiber - you'd have to look for lyocell process.....

[lemurmommies]

I agree that the most earth friendly diapering option would be flats and recycled wool. The thing about flats is that not only do they take less resources to dry (as you mentioned), they're also easier to wash. Lots of people simply do one hot wash, no presoak or extra rinses or anything with flats. The same can't be said of most other diapering systems. So that's a lot of water saved as well.

[Ifluffedthree]

Originally Posted by Ola_

I've heard somewhere that bamboo takes less resources to grow than cotton, so that may be something you want to find out about.

Bamboo takes less resources in the way that it is a sustainable plant that grows aggressively.
However it takes large amount of chemicals to process the fiber and the harvesting practices are not earth friendly in the least.

Hemp prefolds would be your most environmentally responsible choice. A prefold or flat because of the little resoucres it takes to wash and dry with great success and Hemp because it is also an aggressively sustainable fiber, but it is also good to the earth as in it does not take much from the soils to grow unlike cotton and bamboo, it does not require much water to grow and is used as a rotation crop because it is so easy on the earth. It does not require nearly as many chemicals to process and the oils in hemp fibers have natural healing properties.

It is very absorbent too.

my two cents.

Good luck on your search.