The disposable diaper industry complains its product is unfairly portrayed as a major source of waste and says cloth diapers aren't without environmental costs either.
Leaders in the industry Wednesday took issue with recent survey results indicating strong support for banning their product. They said makers of cloth diapers and consumer misunderstanding probably accounted for the findings.
"It's not a simple issue of environment vs. paper diapers," said Scott Stewart, a Procter & Gamble Co. spokesman.
The roughly 16 billion disposable diapers sold every year have become an environmental and health issue as local governments attempt to deal with mountains of used, bacteria-laden dirty diapers and rapidly filling landfills.
Bans or taxes on disposable diapers are being considered in at least 20 states. Nebraska, for example, has generally banned the sale of nondegradable diapers effective in 1993.
A national Media General-Associated Press poll on environmental concerns showed that 71 percent of the respondents supported a ban on disposable diapers.
In a recent Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll, respondents favored a ban on disposable diapers by a 3-1 ratio. In a Gallup Organization poll, 43 percent of the respondents supported a ban, and 38 percent favored a tax.
But Stewart said disposable diapers account for only about 1 percent of trash in the nation's landfills. And he said cloth diapers take more energy to make and need water for cleaning.
"Our competition _ the cloth diaper industry _ has been relatively successful in painting this as an environmental problem," Stewart said.
"There's no dispute that disposables contribute to solid waste, but it's a relatively small part, and it's unfair to say it is a major contributor."
P&G says its Pampers and Luvs have about half of the nation's $3.5 billion-a-year disposable diaper business. The other major manufacturer is Dallas-based Kimberly-Clark Corp., which makes Huggies.
Kimberly-Clark spokeswoman Jean Allen said consumers who use disposables simply are weighing convenience against environmental costs.
"If you were to ban disposable diapers and use cloth, you would not come up with no environmental cost," she said. "An individual has to balance that cost. Water is a limited resource; there are chemical and detergent wastes to be considered, and air pollution."
The National Association of Diaper Services estimated in October that 750,000 households used cloth diaper services, a 38.5 percent increase in a year. Some hospitals are switching to cloth diapers as well.
Jack Mogavero, president of General Health Care Corp. of Piscataway, N.J., which delivers nearly 2.9 million cloth diapers a week in 14 states, said his business has experienced tremendous growth.