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About Jim Hyland Expertise Can answer questions on the environment as it relates to forest habitats, and forestry in general. Experience I am an expert in Forestry, Forest Entomology, Forest Pest Control, and Forest Health. Extensive knpwledge in Identification of insect, and diseases of trees. Expert in bark beetles and other insects that attack Forests. Also a Registered Forester with extensive knowledge in Forest Management and care of forests. Education/Credentials BS in Forest Management and Entomology Registered Forester Certified Pesticide Applicator |
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You are here: Experts > Science > Environmental Issues > Environmental Science > disosable paper drinking cups verses greenware disosables Environmental Science - disosable paper drinking cups verses greenware disosablesExpert: Jim Hyland - 8/3/2007 Question I have a cafeteria with 1500 people. Our client would like to move from stryo disposable eating ware to greenware. The cost are too high. Our question is, would moving from stryo drinking cups etc.. to a basic paper cups, etc... be beneficial to the environment? Answer Paper or plastic? Well, actually, when it comes to cups for drinks, Styrofoam might be better. That’s the conclusion reached by a group of students enrolled this quarter in a senior seminar on sustainability at UCSD. The course aimed to teach students about sustainability while giving them opportunities for hands-on learning. “It’s about helping make our own environment more sustainable and learning in the process,” said Lisa Shaffer, executive editor of UCSD's Environment and Sustainability Initiative and an assistant director at UCSD’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Shaffer co-taught the class with Charles Kennel, Scripps’ former director, who currently heads UCSD’s Environment and Sustainability Initiative. “Sustainability starts at home,” said Kennel. “The way we run our campus will be our showcase.” The team of students that looked at recycling bins, with their professor, Lisa Shaffer. From left to right: Carol Feucht, Nadia Nashi, Sakura Evans, Shaffer, Peter Turner and Camilo Ramirez. The eight students enrolled in the seminar heard from several faculty guest speakers. They also researched and put together reports. On Nov. 20, they made recommendations and presented their findings at the Eucalyptus Point Conference Center. Five students looked at recycling bins on campus and how they could be made more user-friendly. Three students looked at how paper and Styrofoam cups impact the environment. Housing and Dining Services had a keen interest in this topic, Shaffer said. The department goes through 1.3 million cups a year, most of them made of plastic foam. To make their determination, the three students considered a wide range of factors, including cost, waste and the raw materials and energy that went into making the cups. Most of their data came from two studies. One was sponsored by the Polystyrene Packaging Council, but had been peer reviewed. According to the studies, it takes fewer materials and less energy to make foam cups. Making foam or paper cups puts out a comparable amount of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, the students found. But when you take into consideration that most paper cups come with a paper sleeve, paper cups actually produce more emissions, the students said. By weight, foam cups produce far less waste than paper; by volume, the two produce roughly the same amount. Also, foam cups are much cheaper than paper, $23 per 1000 versus $42 per 1000, the students found. The team of students that looked at paper and Styrofoam cups, with Alan Moloney, associate director of Housing and Dining services and Shaffer. From left to right: Moloney, Shaffer, Tim Haag, Ryan Maloney and Jacob Ward. “Foam is better than paper,” said student Tim Haag, who confessed he still had trouble accepting that conclusion. The caveat is that foam takes about 20,000 years to degrade, he said. But at least foam is inert, so it does not release toxic substances into the environment. Housing and Dining should create more incentives for students who bring their own cups, said Haag. They currently get a discount on their drinks, but cool rewards, like iTunes downloads or an iPod might be more attractive, said Ryan Maloney, who worked with Haag and Jacob Ward on the report. There are no simple answers to questions about the environment, Maloney said. Americans throw away an estimated 25 billion styrofoam cups every year. Scientists say that the same styrofoam cups we used this morning will be sitting in a landfill 500 years from now. (1) Consuming 25 percent of our landfill space, styrofoam and other petroleum-based products are difficult to dispose of Burning styrofoam releases over ninety different harmful compounds including dioxin, which raises cancer risk. While it might seem obvious that paper cups are a better alternative, life cycle assessment studies of the two indicate otherwise. After considering the inputs and outputs of materials and energy as well as all of the associated environmental impacts of paper, it is estimated that styrofoam cups release 35 percent fewer toxic chemicals into the environment and require half the energy to produce than paper cups. (2) Life cycle assessment studies of plastic bags versus paper bags produce similar findings on this paper product, proving that neither is an enviromnentally sound choice. See http://www. angelfire.com/wi/PaperVsPlastic/ There are other problems with plastic. When certain plastics deteriorate, they release chemicals that may act as endocrine disruptors and interfere with normal hormone functioning in animals and humans. Many plastic water bottles, baby bottles, and other food containers contain bispbenol A (BPA), a compound that can leach out in small quantities and, based on animal studies, can cause reproductive and developmental abnormalities. (3) Further studies are needed to better understand the risks to consumers. As for recycling, glass and cans are more recyclable than plastic but also require significant amounts of energy to process. Only ten percent of all plastic containers produced are recycled, mainly because most types that are manufactured are not recyclable, including #3, #4, #5, #6, and #7 containers. These end up in landfills and in roadside .ditches. There usually is a good reason when responsible, companies choose to sell its food in non-recyclable containers. For instance, Stonyfield Farm says, after studying the issue, that distributing yogurt in #5 (polypropylene) containers instead of recyclable #2 (HDPE) saves it from manufacturing over 100 tons of plastic each year (polypropylene containers are much lighter). It hopes, as do many other companies, to soon package its product in containers that are 100% biodegradable. Products--like cutlery and cups, trash bags and take-out containers--that look like regular plastic but are one hundred percent biodegradable are available today. Leading natural food stores, including Whole Foods, offer corn-based biodegradable plastic to-go containers manufactured by NatureWorks. Some stores use both corn-based containers as well as recyclable plastic containers. Earth Fare uses recyclable #1 plastic containers for foods from the hot bar, but has corn-based containers from NatureWorks available to customers in its bulk foods department. Unfortunately, says Dave Williams, president of BioGroup USA, the corn used by NatureWorks is genetically modified (GMO). Williams, whose company sells one hundred percent biodegradable food storage bags and trash bags from non-GMO sources (www.biobagusa.com), says that natural food stores have compromised somewhat on the GMO issue, at least for the time being. A wider selection of biodegradable options will soon hit the market, including those made in Asia from non-GMO sugarcane. The good news for the consumer is that the cost of biodegradable plastics is affordable and increasingly more available. The bad news is that in the same way that a banana peel takes decades to degrade in a landfill, biodegradable plastic needs to be composted to breakdown. While most Americans do recycle, very few practice composting. For more info on composting, visit: www.compostguide.com View Follow-Ups Add to this Answer Ask a Question | |