Disposable Products
Page in need of improvement. Had difficulty finding decent sources in 2013. May get to it this month. No one suggests that because paper plates are way cheap, we should just all use paper plates, as the questionable research project cited said of reusable travel cups/bottles, for instance. [4-12-2018]
- Apparently not so bad a deal as far as energy use
- But contribute to waste and stripping of the soil
- May not take the energy of producing trees and petroleum into account for manufacturing cost
- Study (possibly another student with motivated reasoning?) estimated that the ONLY cost of paper and plastic cups were the equivalent of about 1/2 and 1/5 m3 of natural gas
- Dishwashing energy must also be taken into account, though
- And number of uses of reusable cups
- Break evens for paper and plastic v. reusables: Ceramic: 39, 1006; Plastic: 17, 450; Glass: 15, 393
- Paper also contributes to soil decline
