Like all diaper services, EarthBaby delivers fresh new diapers and wipes right to your doorstep. Unlike other diaper services, soiled diapers are collected weekly, professionally composted, and turned into nutrient-rich topsoil in just 14 weeks.
My experience with EarthBaby & what you need to know:
I wanted to explore diapers that were not disposable for my baby. I considered hybrid, cloth, and compostable and eventually settled on the EarthBaby compostable diapers because of a recommendation from a friend (plus they seemed the easiest!).
There is a monthly service charge which covers weekly pick-up and delivery as well as the off-site composting. EarthBaby delivers fresh diapers, wipes, bio-bags, and any supplies to your home. The website is pretty easy to use to manage these orders. EarthBaby has (and is continuing to develop) relationships with some area daycares and also delivery/pick-up there as well.
When I was in dipes and wipes, I paid about $29 once a month for the service plus about $30 each week for two packs of diapers and one pack of wipes. Any unopened packs can be exchanged for another product or the next size up. I accidentally stockpiled several packs of size two and exchanged them for size three with no problem. The prices haven’t changed much since we were customers seven years ago. I think they’re just great!
I used EarthBaby Diaper Service for nearly two years, and we were very happy.
What do you like best?
I like four things the best. Is that too many? I love the convenience of a diaper service in which they bring me diapers, wipes, and baggies when I need them each week. I don’t have to shop for diapers and supplies at all anymore. To be honest, I would like it even more if I could add a second pick up location for my son’s daycare.
The compostable diapers and wipes are great quality for nearly every use case (except for overnight, in which my super-pee’er cannot be contained by any method).
Via www.earth-baby.com, I can manage my deliveries using their easy website or an email if I’m too lazy to log in.
Not to mention, the most important reason, the karma is off-the-charts by diverting loads of my child’s diapers to a compost heap rather than a landfill.
What are compostable diapers?
Sorry folks, I’m not a scientist so these fascinating facts are direct from the EarthBaby FAQ:
Compostable diapers are made with plant-based plastics, are 100% chlorine, GM and latex free. Composting is the natural decaying of biodegradable organic material, producing nutrient rich top-soil over the course of a few years. Industrial composting accelerates the natural process of decomposition by actively controlling the composting conditions (temperatures, aeration, carbon & nitrogen content) that allow aerobic bacteria to thrive, producing the end product in as little as 14 weeks.
Can you put them in your home or restaurant compost bins?
No, sorry. Unless you’re running a hard-core industrial composting service in your backyard, you’ll want to leave it to the pros. A few more science-y FAQ facts because I want to be truthful and keep you from putting your poopy diaper in my green bin:
You cannot compost diapers in your backyard as it is unsafe. Reaching the high temperatures required to kill harmful bacteria and pathogens found in human waste is difficult and inconsistent when using common home composting techniques. Further, human waste composting is a very different process than curbside composting for kitchen scraps, lawn trimmings and cardboard. Please do not put soiled diapers in your city composting bin as it contaminates their composting stream.
Does EarthBaby provide a special can for disposal?
Nope. I put a kitchen-garbage-size compostable bag inside my champ in our very small nursery. Once the inside diaper pail is full, we use a metal trash can with a lid or a paper grocery bag.
And all the wipes, baggies, diapers can go inside. Any of the packaging can also be sent along for composting or recycling.
Does that mean you have sh*tty diapers sitting on your porch?
Yes, sometimes. We used to have a dedicated can with our other waste cans but someone stole it! So, if you come to my house on our Thursday pick-up day, you might find the bag.
What if you forget to put them out?
EarthBaby makes it easy to remember by sending a weekly email reminder and coming on the same day. Sometimes, I do forget or leave town. They’ll still pick up the dirties if I have no delivery (and they’ll still leave the freshies if I haven’t put anything out).
When you’re out on the go, what do you do?
What am I supposed to do or what do I really do? I have mini compostable bags so that I can “pack out” any big messes and contain odors within my own diaper champ; but I usually just toss them in a regular garbage can when I’m away from home.
Is this service local to the Bay Area?
Yes, and they’re the nicest people! Bay Area dads Mark Siminoff and Stephen Wahl founded EarthBaby to be a better alternative for their own babies.
One more nice thing you wanted to say?
We got introduced them to the Help a Mother Out team to fight diaper need and now EarthBaby sponsors HAMO donation pickups and warehouse storage in the Bay Area.
5 thoughts on “EarthBaby: Bay Area Compostable Diaper Delivery Service”
I have been looking into doing this — I had hoped to get some real-life feedback on the quality of the diapers themselves, so thanks! And a discount code is always a delightful perk too:)
These folks are a wonderful local business to support. Quality of diapers from Nature Babycare is amazing as well.
I’ve used Nature Babycare before. I had no idea they were compostable. The materials do feel very natural. I stopped using them because after a little while the diaper will have some seepage, since it’s made from natural materials it is a little more porous than the plastic used in other diapers. I have always been using Earth’s Best since.
I also use BioBags to store food scraps in my little compost bin provided by WM. There’s also a lot of seepage with that as well but I would still use it versus not having anything to hold the food scraps against the bin and having to wash it out more often.
That being said, this company merely provides a service of composting other manufacturers’ products. I think it’s a cool service though, although I’m not sure I would pay $30 a month just to compost diapers. It may have something to do with the amount of disposable income in the household. If I had plenty to spare I wouldn’t think twice about signing up for this service. I would hope that WM can provide that for free some day.
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Is the math right here? Are you paying $149/mo for diapers?
$29 once a month for the service plus about $30 each week = $149
That’s a lot when a pack of from Amazon can have a months supply of 198 @ $39.99!
I get being eco friendly, but does the math check out?