Saturday, April 5, 2008

Ceramic or paper or polystyrene?

UPDATE:  Through Neighbors for Neighbors, a group in Boston organized local coffee shops to support a bring-your-own-mug concept.  It's called The Mug Project and I think it's wonderful.  Thanks for the tip, Em!

Consuming less seems to be one of the primary mantras of the "green" movement. "Reduce, reuse, recycle." So, when it comes to your morning beverage of choice (be it coffee, tea, hot cocoa), surely a ceramic mug is more environmentally friendly than a paper or polystyrene (read: 'styrofoam') cup. Not necessarily, claims the
Institute for Lifecycle Environmental Assessment. Way back in 1994, this study suggested that ceramic mugs must be used numerous times before the environmental impact equals that of a similar number of paper or foam cups. Large amounts of energy are required to manufacture and clean a reusable mug, thus it must be used many times to spread out that impact over a large number of uses. According to their findings, a ceramic mug must be used 40 times to equal paper, and hundreds of times to equal foam. So, does this mean that foam-cup-wielding lunatics are greener than thou?

Don't fret. Think: "reduce." Surely, if you are a ceramic mug hoarder and go through them like water, you're relatively wasteful. But, if you're like me and hold onto a select few mugs for years and use them repeatedly, things might not be so bad after all. If you can't stomach the idea of pressing your lips to the same mug year after year, at least put your unwanted mugs back into the ebb and flow of the universe. Donate them to a second-hand store. At some point, your orphaned mugs will be considered vintage and be worth a lot of money, to someone else.

And, in the spirit of not being able to determine anything with certainty, consider the hidden features of polystyrene.
  • “Acute exposure to styrene in humans results in respiratory effects, such as mucous membrane irritation, eye irritation, and gastrointestinal effects” -Environmental Protection Agency

  • Styrofoam is “possibly carcinogenic to humans” -World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer

  • Styrofoam cup takes 500 years to decompose. -University of Washington

  • “In the categories of energy consumption, greenhouse gas effect, and total environmental effect, [expanded polystyrene's] environmental impacts were second highest, behind aluminum” -California Integrated Waste Management Board

Image: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/Coffeee_img451.jpg

3 comments:

Me said...

Hmm. I'm drinking my Dunkin D coffee from a giant styrofoam (sp?) cup as I read this....perfect time to get me to stop and evaluate a decision I make nearly daily w/o always thinking about its environmental effects.

If you get take-out coffee, will they fill your re-usable container for you or insist on giving it to you in their own cup (for sanitary and other reasons), which you then end up wasting anyway if you pour it into your own container?

Keith said...

Excellent point. Some coffee shops offer refills in any container, sometimes you have to buy and use theirs, and some won't do it at all. Just ask. The store will save money on the cup, but they'll lose money on the advertising a branded cup provides. I think DD does this. Regardless, I suggest using a ceramic or metal-lined mug. Best to avoid chemical-leaching plastics.

Anonymous said...

I love the idea of my old mugs contributing to the dynamics of the ebb and flow of the universe. So poetic.
Also, speaking of mugs...a couple neighbors of mine launched 'the mug project' (www.mugproject.com) in our little neighborhood in Boston. They went around to the local coffee shops and asked that the baristas honor customers' own mugs. Almost all the shops got on board, including some large chains. I can definitely see the difference in the neighborhood: now, most people walking to the subway in the morning are carrying travel mugs, rather than paper cups. I'm sure that the founders would be happy to chat with anyone interested in doing something similar in another city!
-Em