INVENTORY OF LAND MANAGEMENT INPUTS FOR PRODUCING ABSORBENT FIBER FORDIAPERS - A COMPARISON OF COTTON AND SOFTWOOD LAND MANAGEMENT

A previous life cycle analysis (LCA) compared the reusable cloth diape r and disposable paper diaper with respect to energetics and environme ntal effects during manufacture, consumer use. and disposal. However, data are lacking on the first phase of the LCA - the chemical and natu ral resource inputs required to plant, maintain. and harvest cotton la nds for the cloth diaper and softwood forests for the paper diaper In this inventory study, data for cotton and southern softwood production in the United States were compiled in terms of the following inputs: irrigation water, fuel, fertilizers, biocides, soil amendments, and ha rvest aids. Inputs required for cotton fiber generally exceeded those for paper fiber Depending on the specific growing region, production o f 1 kg of cotton fiber requires up to four orders of magnitude more ir rigation water than 1 kg of diaper pulp. Chemical and natural resource inputs were expressed on the basis of 1,000 equivalent diaperings for commercially laundered cloth, home-laundered cloth, and paper diapers using assumptions for the fiber content of diapers, the life span of the cloth diaper, and a market share estimate for home- and commercial ly laundered cloth diapers. On this basis, cloth diapering consumes ab out four times more fertilizer, 27 times more biocide, and 450 times m ore irrigation water than the paper diaper system. Production of softw ood pulpwood for the paper diaper consumed about three times more fuel than for cotton. Biocide requirements for 1 kg of cotton fiber were u p to 500 times higher, with several applications required per year, co mpared to 2 to 3 applications required over a 24-year period for softw ood. Fertilizer inputs for cotton were up to 150 times greater than fo r softwood. Lime and harvest aids were generally not used on softwood forests, but were required in amounts of 84 and 2 g, respectively, for the production of 1 kg of cotton. The dataset suggests an environment al trade-off exists among the diapering systems; no one diapering syst em is superior in terms of required chemical and natural resource inpu ts.