According to genexe.com plastic is actually the cheapest of these to produce, costing $11.00 for 1000 while Styrofoam costs $25.00 for 1000 and paper cups cost around $80.00 for 1000. This kind of shocked me because I thought that paper would be the cheapest but I was wrong. According to genexe.com paper cups(like McDonald's uses) are not only the most costly but they are the worst for the environment. They result in almost twice as much CO2 emission and energy consumption over Styrofoam and plastic. Also stated in the genexe.com article, if paper cups have a wax coating on them, which many of them do, they are not recyclable. Therefore, paper cups seem to not be the best option environmentally or economically.
Another option, Styrofoam is cheaper to produce and probably more efficient because it is a much better insulator that paper or plastic. However, genexe.com states that Styrofoam can break into small pieces very easily and these pieces can be hard to breakdown and can be harmful to people and animals because of the chemicals used for it. In many ways plastic appears to be the best option. Genexe.com says that this is because most plastics are recyclable and even if they are not they can be used as fillers in other products. More research will have to be done of course, and I am interested to look further into which choice is best but based on my current research I'd say that plastic is your best bet!
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| Photo by boutmuet. Flickr.com |
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| Photo by Chapendra. Flickr.com |
http://www.genexe.com/environment/paper-vs-styrofoam-vs-plastic-cups/
Dear Ms. Erica Graham,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your blog on the types of cups, because I never use glass cups and I am always eating out. The information that you researched was very shocking to me. There was a particular sentence that immediately stood out to me and that sentence was, “Also stated in the genexe.com article, if paper cups have a wax coating on them, which many of them do, they are not recyclable.” I cannot believe that a little wax would make them a not recyclable. You would think that with all this new technology that they could remove the wax coating in order to recycle it. There was another sentence that stood out and it was as follows; “In many ways plastic appears to be the best option. Genexe.com says that this is because most plastics are recyclable and even if they are not they can be used as fillers in other products. “ Personally, I would agree because I think plastic is the best and it’s refreshing to know that all plastic can be reused in some form or fashion. I honestly appreciate you for writing a blog on this topic; because I was I needed to know this vital information. Your blog seems to be well written and I would love to read some of your current blogs. Keep up the good work.