The Diaper Genie

[DrJ]

If you're a new daddy, then you GOTTA belive it is all that AND a bag of potato chips. Brilliant.

[Alexander]

Oh yeah. I know it's supposed to be REALLY bad for the environment, but when you have a little poop producing baby around the house, YOU JUST DON'T CARE.

[DrJ]

Hell yes!

On a briefly more serious note: I continue to vacillate about whether I should feel guilty or not re: the environment and disposable diapers. The water waste and the amount of gray water and need for processing generated by cloth diapers is not insignificant in terms of envirnomental impact according to my research. Many environmentalists feel it's basically a coin toss between the two in terms of which is "worse." We thought long and hard about it from this angle and decided that, in a drought-prone, water-poor state like California, disposables were probably the lesser of two evils.

[Alexander]

True. Then there's the car exhaust if you use a diaper service. But supposedly the Diaper Genie takes the problem of disposable diapers, and makes it much, much worse. Because the diapers are now sealed in plastic, you see, they are even less biodegradable then they were before. Meaning more landfills will be necessary to deal with all of the Diaper Genie waste. But, again, when you have a baby YOU JUST DON'T CARE.

[Rooster_Ties]

My wife and I thought about the pros and cons of disposable vs. cloth diapers -- carefully weighing all the factors: water usage vs. landfill space. We did a great deal of research on the entire issue. And in the end, we felt that by far the best solution, at least for us, was to not have any kids at all.

[Jim R]

If you're a new daddy, then you GOTTA belive it is all that AND a bag of potato chips. Brilliant.

Dare I ask... how does this thing work? (I may need it eventually for grandchildren ).

BTW, Tony, I hear you regarding the lesser of two evils situation. We were coming off a long drought period when we had our first, back in the 80's.

[DrJ]

Alexander Posted on Jul 29 2003, 05:08 PM

True. Then there's the car exhaust if you use a diaper service. But supposedly the Diaper Genie takes the problem of disposable diapers, and makes it much, much worse. Because the diapers are now sealed in plastic, you see, they are even less biodegradable then they were before. Meaning more landfills will be necessary to deal with all of the Diaper Genie waste.

WHAT??? We've been had! Me and the missus figured since it was called a Diaper Genie that the waste and plastic and all were just whisked away into beyond by magic when you turn that there top doohickey! You mean there AIN'T no miniature genie sittin' under that plastic cover? Sheesh...talk about false advertising...can you say "class action lawsuit?"

Edited July 29, 2003 by DrJ

[Alexander]

My wife and I thought about the pros and cons of disposable vs. cloth diapers -- carefully weighing all the factors: water usage vs. landfill space. We did a great deal of research on the entire issue. And in the end, we felt that by far the best solution, at least for us, was to not have any kids at all.

Yeah, but I wouldn't trade my daughter for anything in the world. She's cute AND smart. At about three years old, she called me into her badroom one night (she is the world champion of bedtime procrastination) and announced to me: "Daddy, one and five are six!" I blinked, and said, "Yes, they are honey. Who taught you that?" She just grinned. I didn't teach her, my wife didn't teach her, and my mother-in-law (who watches her while we're at work) didn't teach her. She must have picked it up from television! But now she can do several more adding problems, so it looks like she didn't inherit my math disability (documented, by the way. I have an IQ that's well above average, but the math skills of a ten year old).

[DrJ]

Jim R   Posted: Jul 29 2003, 05:12 PM 

Dare I ask... how does this thing work? (I may need it eventually for grandchildren  ).

Your wish is my command! There's an actual "how to use" on the Web: go to this page Diaper Genie How To and click on "How to Set Up and Use."

By the way, totally agree with Alexander. Our little boy was 2 weeks old this AM, and he's already doing stuff that I know babies are not supposed to be able to do until 2 MONTHS. He smiles purposely (not just gas), reaches out for my face (again with purpose, not just lucky flails), and has amazing neck control. Then again, when have you ever met a parent who DIDN'T think their child was light years ahead of the curve in terms of intelligence, cuteness, and motor skills! -_-

Edited July 29, 2003 by DrJ

[Jim R]

Thanks Tony (damn, and I thought I was going to get you to graphically describe some filth )

Edited July 29, 2003 by Jim R

[DrJ]

Jim R Posted on Jul 29 2003, 05:25 PM

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks Tony (damn, and I thought I was going to get you to graphically describe some filth)

The problem with the Diaper Genie is that it picks up with the changing process only AFTER you've managed, though a combination of luck, skill, and sheer force of will, to extract the loaded diaper from the baby without hopelessly contaminating his "onesie," his feet (yes, they LOVE to flex and wriggle their legs around so their feet inevitably go right into the open, soiled diaper), your own hands, the changing table cover, the adjoining wall...well, you get the picture. Not to mention the added complexity entailed by having a little boy baby - let's just say poop is not the only bodily fluid you have to have a healthy respect for. Jim - how's THAT for graphic!

So here's an open call to the scientific community: someone should work on cleaning up this pre-disposal part of the diaper changing procedure...I'm envisioning something like one of those hermetically sealed cleanroom clear plexiglas containers, where you put your hands into the container through cut-outs while wearing a nuclear suit. The Nobel Prize is there for the taking.

Edited July 29, 2003 by DrJ

[Jim R]

Jim - how's THAT for graphic!

Not bad, although I was hoping for more adjectives.

Ah, memories...

[Chuck Nessa]

As I understand it, in 2006 twenty percent of cars in California will have to run on used diapers. Can the rest of the US be far behind.

[AfricaBrass]

This is a great thread! LOL

My son will be 2 in August. I agree that when you're in the trenches as a new parent, you just don't care about the environment anymore, you just don't have the energy to care. I think I was a zombie during my son's first six months. Heck, I think I'm still a zombie in some ways.

My son announced to us the other night that he's ready to be potty trained. Here's how he did it: He took his pants and diaper off. Just as I was reacting to put it back on him, he did his business on the floor. Aaaargh!!

After I cleaned up his fun, I was explaining to him that he's not a dog or a cat and he doesn't do that on the ground.

As I said that, my son then started meowing.

I think I'm in trouble.

[Guest Chaney]

I'm not a parent but I would guess that this device would also be a must at diaper changing time:

[Chuck Nessa]

Seriously - transfer your "perplexed new daddy" role to big industry. "Fuck 'em, I can't deal with this" - (right?). Who am the enemy?

We always be them.

[Aggie87]

I'll step up and be a voice of dissent on this one. As far as I can tell, the benefit of the Diaper Genie is eliminating/minimizing the odor from poopy-diapers that you have disposed (please correct me if there are other benefits!). And that is definitely a problem that requires attention (couw take notes here!).

That being the case, we simply take the poopy diaper and toss it in a plastic bag (the kind you get from the grocery store, and probably have ~1-2K of them around the house somewhere). Wrap 'em up airtight and tie them, and then toss them in the garbage. Odor is eliminated/minimized as effectively as the Diaper Genie.

This method has the practical side benefit of removing the poopy diapers from the house every time you take out the trash as well, instead of waiting for a full Diaper Genie.

[Dan Gould]

Jim R Posted on Jul 29 2003, 05:25 PM

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks Tony (damn, and I thought I was going to get you to graphically describe some filth)

The problem with the Diaper Genie is that it picks up with the changing process only AFTER you've managed, though a combination of luck, skill, and sheer force of will, to extract the loaded diaper from the baby without hopelessly contaminating his "onesie," his feet (yes, they LOVE to flex and wriggle their legs around so their feet inevitably go right into the open, soiled diaper), your own hands, the changing table cover, the adjoining wall...well, you get the picture. Not to mention the added complexity entailed by having a little boy baby - let's just say poop is not the only bodily fluid you have to have a healthy respect for. Jim - how's THAT for graphic!

OK, now how in the hell am I going to tell my wife that the idea of children isn't holding quite the appeal it once did?

[DrJ]

The bottom line is that I have yet to read anything unbiased that makes even a remotely convincing case for cloth diapers being environmentally superior to disposables. I alluded to this above. The environmental "science" implicating disposables as the worse option is incredibly soft and sadly reactionary - all too typical in the knee jerk "anything new is automatically anathema for the environment" mindset.

Here's a nice balanced look at the issue, from Ohio State, that concludes there is no good scientific evidence to suggest either option is clearly environmentally superior: Cloth vs Disposable They conclude something very much like my wife and I concluded: "In areas where land is plentiful but water is in short supply disposable diapers may be the more environmentally responsible choice. In areas experiencing solid waste problems and decreasing landfills, but have adequate water supplies, cloth diapers or a combination of cloth and disposables may be the most environmentally responsible choice."

Volume of use is a big issue cloth advocates seldom acknowledge as something that clearly needs to be figured into the equation. Right now, the "market share" for is teensy (only 4% of parents use cloth exclusively, while 15% trade off between cloth and disposable), so a few often holier than thou individuals can go this route and feel smarmy about THEIR not being part of the environmental problem (oh no sir, not me, I'm GREEN!).

However, if everyone in the U.S. switched wholesale from disposables to cloth, cloth would entail at least as much of an environmental impact as disposables do currently, and I suspect much greater given the water burden in much of our country. Laundering just one large load of cloth diapers requires 30 to 45 gallons of water, half of which is heated and all of which is processed as waste water. Do the math on that one, and it makes the landfill problem look rather insignificant. This type of scale issue is often a fatal flaw in some of the more blindly "green" reasoning out there - some of the just plain stupid options being promulgated are fine and dandy when a tiny fraction of the population thinks they're the stuff, but they would be completely impractical when considered on a larger scale.

Anyway, my point was not to deride cloth diapers as much as to say that I see definite pros and cons to both options. We are a pretty conscientious couple where the environment is concerned, and we thought this out a lot before going disposable. Alexander's and my joking aside, I have not a whit of guilt about the choice.

As a related aside: more people ought to read Jack Hollander's book THE REAL ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS. Hollander is a Professor Emeritus at UC Berkeley, a physicist and long-time champion of rational environmentalism. His book is full of wake up calls for anyone who automatically assumes that all industry and technological advances are inherently bad for the environment.

Edited July 30, 2003 by DrJ

[Shrdlu]

My three kids are well out of the diaper stage by now, but they sure were handy!

Here's something for you to consider, re how spoiled we are.

I have friends in Andhra Pradesh, India, and they want me to go visit them. So I got this book on South India, published by an outfit called "Lonely Planet". They point out that the sewage system in India cannot handle toilet paper, and so alls you get is a jug of water and you have to use your (left) hand. (This grossed out my daughter!) It is a huge insult to offer your left hand when shaking hands in that part of the world. As I am left-handed, I wonder where that leaves me.

[catesta]

As I understand it, in 2006 twenty percent of cars in California will have to run on used diapers. Can the rest of the US be far behind.