At the office, which is better to use, for environmental purposes, paper or plastic?
ver0504 asked:
The CFO has asked the office staff to be concious of overspending and cut corners whenever possible. I do the ordering of supplies for the office, we have a kitchen and we use disposable plates, forks, knives, cups…etc… To be cost effective I ordered plastic plates, but now I am questioned on my choice, can anybody help me; which is better paper or plastic plates? Your input is appreciated!
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The CFO has asked the office staff to be concious of overspending and cut corners whenever possible. I do the ordering of supplies for the office, we have a kitchen and we use disposable plates, forks, knives, cups…etc… To be cost effective I ordered plastic plates, but now I am questioned on my choice, can anybody help me; which is better paper or plastic plates? Your input is appreciated!
March 16th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
for my opinion the best is the paper plates. because after you use paper plates you can recycle until it make again a good paper plates…..
March 17th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
If it is made of a type of plastic that can be washed and reused, it is better for the environment, but you then have to be aware of public health rules about dishes that are shared. If the plastic is not meant to be washed and reused, you are better off using paper since it will biodegrade and plastic won’t. Some paper products can be recycled, but most just goes into landfills. There really isn’t a lot you can do with paper plates once they have had food on them, especially if it is greasy.
March 18th, 2009 at 8:45 am
I don’t know which is better to use for the environment. “For environmental purposes” ???
Lacking any other method to decide, I would suggest you use the lowest cost solution.
Determining the carbon footprint of any product is an enormously complex task. Tree: farm or wild lumber truck, mill, truck, process, truck, store, car, office, truck landfill or incinerator (energy/fuel or waste). Natural gas, pipe, chemical plant, truck, manufacturer, truck, store,car, office, truck landfil or incinerator. Wow, no clear winner.
ARE paper plates recycled (food contact surface?) My guess is only to a limited %. Why not recycle the plastic ones, too?
To be sustainable, everybody washes their own place setting.
lol - that’ll be the day.