Give families a tax break for using cloth diapers

To the House of Commons in Parliament Assembled

We, the undersigned residents of Canada, draw attention of the House to the following:

THAT every Canadian citizen that has a baby in diapers can make a significant environmental change by using cloth diapers;

THAT according to Environmental Canada, once in landfill sites-which are not designed to handle human waste-single use-diapers threaten the health of sanitary workers, water supplies and our wildlife;

THAT about 5 million tons of untreated body excrement, which may carry over 100 intestinal viruses, is brought to landfills via disposables;

THAT in 1990, 7 billion disposables were thrown into Canadian landfills;

THAT 3.4 billion gallons of oil and over 250,000 trees a year to manufacture disposables that end up in our already overburdened landfills; and

THEREFORE, your petitioners call upon Parliament to ensure that instead of paying for more land fills through taxpayers’ dollars, that a tax credit is granted to all families who can show a receipt for the use of cloth diapers and/ or diaper service.

We further call upon Parliament to increase the taxes on single use diapers to off set the rebates and to recognize that by population, diapers make up the 3rd largest contributor to landfills.