Want to your baby to be green? Maybe it is time to give cloth diapers a closer look.

To create awareness and show how easy it is to use cloth diapers, Napan Angela Powell started Bumrite Cloth Diaper Co. She sells her products online to earth-conscious parents all over the world. The business was launched in September.

"My goal is to be an advocate for cloth diapers,"Powell said. "have a simple answer to a stinky problem."

Cloth diapers will make a comeback, if Powell has anything to say about it. The title on her business card reads "Chief Bum."

Her goal is to demystify cloth diapers.

During the first three years of a baby's life, he or she will go through 6,000 disposable diapers, with a cumulative price tag of $1,800 to $2,500.

But, that's not necessary, Powell says. The price is right for cloth diapers.

A person can diaper their child for between $170 to $375. The energy cost of washing cloth diapers comes to about 50 cents per load.

The cost savings goes even further. These same diapers can be reused on subsequent kids, Powell said. "The prefolds can further be recycled into super absorbent kitchen towels and car wash rags."

Buttons on the side allow the size to be let out as the infant grows.

A parent can also expect to spend around $500 for the ubiquitous baby wipes infants need over the years, whereas Bumrite has reusable wipes for around $24.

"When I told my mom I was looking into using cloth diapers, she said I was crazy," Powell said. "People felt it was so difficult. But it's not anymore."

Powell said children wearing cloth diapers are typically potty-trained six months sooner than a child wearing a disposable plastic diaper. "Kids in cloth make the mind-body connection quicker."

Powell likes to say her line of cloth diapers are good for the earth, easy to use and economical.

Because plastic diapers don't breathe, there are more problems with diaper rash. Her youngest, 10-month-old Boden, "has never had diaper rash," Powell said.

Powell estimated about 10 percent of her business is local and the rest is national and international. The farthest-flung customer she has is in Australia. "It seems foreign clients seem to get it a little bit quicker than we do," she said.

Disposable plastic diapers became the rage in the 1970s when companies such as Procter & Gamble touted their convenience. "We tend to be a throwaway society. I want people to find out there is an option," Powell said.

Powell said there is nothing that can be recycled in a disposable diaper. "It is made of crude oil, plastic and wood pulp. Is that what you want to be putting against your baby's skin?" She added that it takes one cup of crude oil to make one disposable diaper.

Landfills nationwide host disposable diapers, which take between 200 to 500 years to break down. Nationwide, 18 billion disposable diapers are ending up in the landfills. Locally, about 8 million disposable diapers go into Napa County's landfill each year, according to Tim Dewey-Mattia, public education manager for Napa County Recycling & Waste Services. Then there are the pathogens that can leach into the underground aquifers, according to Powell.

Napa mom Jillian Tamber said she almost exclusively uses cloth diapers on her children, 19 months old and two months old, respectively.

"I don't know anyone else locally doing this. With Angela being in Napa, it is perfect for me," Tamber said.

"I am pretty environmentally friendly. My husband and I decided when we have kids we would use cloth diapers," Tamber said.  "I was surprised it was not as much work as I expected. I do a cold pre-wash, then hot wash and dry them."

Tamber said she thinks anyone who is not using cloth diapers is not thinking about the next generation.

"I'm thinking of my kids and their kids. We care about our kids and how they will have to cope with this world. I would like to leave them as clean a world as I can.

"I don't think this is a hard sell. The question is do you want to spend thousands of dollars or spend a few hundred dollars or even less. It's a no-brainer to me. The money we save could be a down payment on a car. We are being money conscious as well as environmentally conscious," Tamber said.

For more info, go to www.bumritediapers.com or 812-1BUM.