Imagine burying one ton of diapers in your backyard-that's the equivalent of one babyhood's worth of disposable diaper consumption. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, disposable diapers made up 3.4 million tons of landfill waste-2.1 percent of US garbage-in 1998, the last year this information was collected. In addition to being ecofriendly, cloth diapers facilitate communication between parent and baby: Children learn to let their parents know when they need to go to the bathroom, instead of assuming that the diaper itself is the potty. Cloth-diapered babies can train as early as 18 months, instead of potty training by as late as age 5 with plastic diapers. Plastic diapers create a heated environment that is linked to infection and male infertility. And synthetic chemicals are a threat: Sodium polyacrylate is still used in diapers despite its recall from tampons due to links with toxic shock syndrome. Shelley Tween, founder of Healthy Diapers delivery service, offers an alternative: "Cotton diapers let skin breathe. It is the reason we don't wear plastic T-shirts," says Tween. Healthy Diapers, the last diaper delivery service in the state, uses all-organic, fair-trade materials, and owns biodiesel trucks, servicing Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Ulster, and Westchester Counties. (845) 338-1211; www.healthydiapers.com.  read more »