Diaper Services Are Answer to Pollution

Your Consumer Affairs column, “Needed: A Disposable/Cloth Diaper Hybrid” (Nov. 16), concluded with the theme that a natural solution is still required. The proven solution to diaper pollution is offered by a professional diaper service.

At Dydee Diaper Service in Orange, of which I am president, we use a special 10-step process for laundering soiled diapers that includes several flushings, sudsings and rinsings using only 88% pure soap. This process generates about 4 1/2 gallons of waste water per child per day, less than the water used in one average toilet flush, and four times less than the amount of water a parent would use if they were to flush the solid waste from their disposable diapers as the package recommends.

As for fuel conservation, Dydee’s delivery trucks are powered by clean burning propane, compared to the fuel used to deliver the trees from the forest (more than 2 million a year) to produce disposable diapers, to deliver them to retail stores and to take the soiled disposable diaper to the landfill, plus the powered machinery used to level the trash there.

To conserve energy, we use special equipment that reclaims heat from our dryers and waste water.

Disposable diapers create 90 times more solid waste than a reusable cotton diaper. For every baby in cotton diapers, more than a ton of paper diaper waste is diverted from landfills. Environmental groups will always recommend a reusable product over a single-use one.

TIMOTHY J. O’NEIL

Orange