Liz Turrigiano, co-founder and CEO of Esembly, a sustainable diapering system, answers our burning questions about saving landfills and saving you money on diapers and more. 

Where did you get the idea to launch Esembly?

Esembly was actually inspired by our first business Diaperkind, which my partners and I launched a decade ago. Diaperkind is a busy cloth diaper service in NYC where we wash approx 15,000 diapers per week. Seeing what used diapers look like at scale inspired us to do more. Diaperkind is a delivery service, and is therefore limited by geographic boundaries. We needed to find a solution to the disposable diaper problem that we could take global. And so Esembly was born! We took all of our acquired knowledge in diaper design, customer support and laundry science and rolled it into a complete product line enabling anyone, anywhere to diaper sustainably with ease and confidence.

How has the response been to Esembly from mamas who are using it?

Esembly provides parents with every single item that they need to diaper reusably from birth through potty training. From organic diapers, cloth-friendly skincare, and storage bags - to specially-formulated detergent with step-by-step laundering instructions. Our mission is to make the process simple and fun. Happily, it seems to be working because the most common response we get is “That’s it?! This is super easy! Why isn’t everyone doing this?”. 

What advice do you have for mamas who might be having a tough time balancing being a new mom and trying to do the right thing by buying sustainable products?

Seek out the goods that are easier on the planet but also make your life easier! They do exist. Living sustainably doesn’t have to be a trade-off for convenience.

For example, washing your diapers twice a week, according to our wash instructions, not only saves 7,000+ diapers from the landfill, but it also saves you thousands of dollars. Additionally, our diapers are designed to be leak-proof. So by choosing the more sustainable option you are saving the planet from excessive waste, saving money, and saving yourself from having to clean up after messy blowouts.

It’s a win-win-win!

As we celebrate Earth Day is there a particular woman who inspires you?

I'm currently reading Greta Thunberg’s book, No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference, with my daughter. What an inspiration this young woman is. Greta is fearless, bold, compassionate, and deeply committed to doing right by our planet. She is opening the eyes of children and adults alike, and I am so grateful for the work she is doing and how she is inspiring our kids.