Change Diapers, Change the World

Disposable diapers may be easy to use, but there are many benefits to choosing cloth.

That is the message that Lora Hutches, founder of Bippy Diapers, delivers to parents when she teaches classes at Thank You Mama on 4^th Street in St. Petersburg.

Sure, throwaway diapers are easy. But Huthces is adamant that cloth benefits the health of babies and the environment. Plus, they can be used for a fraction of the cost of disposable.

Hutches is a retailer, but much of her business involves education on the , options, advantages, care, costs and benefits of the eco-conscious cloth diaper. Hutches works with a number of businesses in the area, including cloth diaper cleaning and delivery services, to promote a more environmentally friendly – and old-fashioned – alternative. 

She took a few moments from her busy schedule to talk about the resurgence of cloth diapers:

Q. Why should parents make the change?

A. Disposables take an approximated 500 years to disintegrate into our landfills. Approximately 18 million diapers alone are put into our landfills daily. In order to reduce that and not contribute to that I've chosen to do cloth and it's a way to save the planet for our children.

Q. What surprised you about reusable cloth?

A. They had cute patterns and designs and colors. It's just as easy as a disposable diaper really.

Q. How did you become interested in the use of cloth diapers?

A. When I had a baby (who is now 3 years old), I saw an advertisement for G diapers (which are earth friendly) and was interested. I started my research that way and didn't find anything locally except Babies “R” Us. I traveled there, went through, picked up a set and went home and tried them and didn't really like them very well but liked the concept of cloth.

Q. What led you to start your own business?

A. I started to do more research and I kind of fell upon the whole wide world of cloth service, home care and different types of diapers that are available. I've had a great response locally. A lot of moms have not known about this.

Q. Are there cost savings by using cloth diapers?

A. From infancy though toddler-hood, a parent will spend $2,000 (on average) for disposable diapers. As opposed to cloth, if you were to do the in-home laundry, you could get a set of cloth diapers for a couple hundred dollars. For that investment you would launder for pennies a day. If you were going to do the diaper service, it would be in between the disposable price range and the in-home laundry, and you would still be spending $1,000 to $1,200.

Q. Where do you want to be in five years?

A. I see myself with a larger range of natural parenting products. I'd like to get into prenatal and post-natal care and working the entire spectrum from pregnancies through eighteen months or so. 

Q. Are your efforts making a difference?

A. Absolutely. I think what it takes is several people to start a wave. That's what as an industry we're trying to do now – to become more centralized, to put all of the information that's available out there on the same page.

Lora Hutches can be contacted through her Bippy Diapers web site, Facebook page or at 941-586-1039.