Ditch disposables

Ah, disposables. They're convenient, aren't they? Plastic cups, foam plates, disposable wipes, paper napkins, disposable diapers and paper towels all have a few things in common. First, they're designed to make our lives easier. Second, they create a lot of waste. Third, you might as well throw your money in the trash because that's essentially what you're doing when you buy disposable products.

I'm guilty myself. I use disposable diapers and sometimes disposable wipes. When I clean the bathroom, I'll occasionally use paper towels instead of a cloth. The bathroom/paper towels thing is more of a psychological quirk about bathrooms being gross rather than just wanting convenience. It's lazy. It's easy.

If we have another child, I'll likely go the cloth diaper route. I would have with our son, but I worked out of the home for the first 19 months of his life, and most sitters aren't too keen on the idea of using cloth diapers. Anyway, use cloth, it saves a lot of money.

My point is this: Every time you throw away a disposable diaper or a paper towel, you're putting the money you spent on that product in the trash. You're paying for that convenience over and over (and over) again. It's a terrible decision, financially. Why not pay a bit more for reusable bags and cloth diapers? Why not use your dishes and, I don't know, wash them? It's a little more work and a larger upfront cost, but you'll save money in the end.

Disposable products are terrible for the environment. Plastic bags alone can take anywhere from 15 to 1000 years to degrade, based on environmental conditions. A thousand years! Not only that, they don't biodegrade. Instead, they release toxic chemicals into the soil when exposed to light and heat. Add plastic bottles, paper towels, disposable diapers and all those other products onto the trash heap, and you have one nasty toxic mess on your hands for hundreds of years.

Individually, we may be paying less for these disposable products. As a society, we're paying much, much more.

Have you cut back on your use of disposables? How much have you saved?

Photo courtesy Steven Depolo, via Flickr.