09-09-2017, 09:47 AM
"Is polystyrene THAT cheaper than molded paper pulp?"
"If you’re concerned with making the eco-friendly choice between the two, Styrofoam wins on many fronts. Unless you’re using a paper cup that is biodegradable (most are not), there are some aspects to consider. A standard paper cup takes more than 20 years to decompose in a landfill environment. This is mostly due to the wax lining on the inside of the cup. The trendy paper cup also takes more energy, raw material and money to make. For example, in comparison to Styrofoam, a paper cup requires 12 times the amount of water, 36 times the amount of electricity and costs double the amount of money to produce."
https://recyclenation.com/2010/03/styrofoam-paper-cups/
I'm not pro-plastic, but these issues are rarely as black and white as they seem:
"This issue is an important one. Householders continue to see plastic as wicked and paper-based goods as benign. But when considered over the entire life of the packaging, paper and cardboard embody far more greenhouse gases than their plastic equivalents. Paper products take substantial amounts of energy to make. Crushing a tree down into small fibres, mixing the wood pulp into a slurry and then passing the wet mass through huge rollers cannot be done without use of enormous quantities of power. Making paper and cardboard is almost certainly the third largest industrial use of energy on the planet. By contrast, plastic is light, durable and its manufacture is generally not particularly energy intensive – at least by comparison to paper. A second concern is that many paper and cardboard products, probably including Riverford boxes, end up in local authority landfill, where they rot down anaerobically, creating the greenhouse gas methane in the process."
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/...-cardboard
While it might make consumers "feel good" about using paper versus plastic, the net result on the environment is worse to forgo the plastic. If use of plastic was widely banned, the Earth's forests couldn't keep up with the demand and humans would be mowing down more amazon rain forest.
The only solution is to quit using disposable things altogether. In the Olde Daze, the companies that made animal feed put their products into sacks made out of cloth with designs on them. The families who bought the feed would make dresses, quilts, and other things out of the feed bags. The feed bag companies would change the design on the feed bags periodically to mix the fashion up.
ETA: bold
"If you’re concerned with making the eco-friendly choice between the two, Styrofoam wins on many fronts. Unless you’re using a paper cup that is biodegradable (most are not), there are some aspects to consider. A standard paper cup takes more than 20 years to decompose in a landfill environment. This is mostly due to the wax lining on the inside of the cup. The trendy paper cup also takes more energy, raw material and money to make. For example, in comparison to Styrofoam, a paper cup requires 12 times the amount of water, 36 times the amount of electricity and costs double the amount of money to produce."
https://recyclenation.com/2010/03/styrofoam-paper-cups/
I'm not pro-plastic, but these issues are rarely as black and white as they seem:
"This issue is an important one. Householders continue to see plastic as wicked and paper-based goods as benign. But when considered over the entire life of the packaging, paper and cardboard embody far more greenhouse gases than their plastic equivalents. Paper products take substantial amounts of energy to make. Crushing a tree down into small fibres, mixing the wood pulp into a slurry and then passing the wet mass through huge rollers cannot be done without use of enormous quantities of power. Making paper and cardboard is almost certainly the third largest industrial use of energy on the planet. By contrast, plastic is light, durable and its manufacture is generally not particularly energy intensive – at least by comparison to paper. A second concern is that many paper and cardboard products, probably including Riverford boxes, end up in local authority landfill, where they rot down anaerobically, creating the greenhouse gas methane in the process."
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/...-cardboard
While it might make consumers "feel good" about using paper versus plastic, the net result on the environment is worse to forgo the plastic. If use of plastic was widely banned, the Earth's forests couldn't keep up with the demand and humans would be mowing down more amazon rain forest.
The only solution is to quit using disposable things altogether. In the Olde Daze, the companies that made animal feed put their products into sacks made out of cloth with designs on them. The families who bought the feed would make dresses, quilts, and other things out of the feed bags. The feed bag companies would change the design on the feed bags periodically to mix the fashion up.
ETA: bold