Eco-friendly disposable cups - possible???

[Matthew Storrs]

5 minutes ago, agrimog said:

and as a side note...we used to use the solution to paint onto boards that were going to be in contact with the ground, when it dried it was a plastic like coating as hard as steel

I think polyesterene dissolved into petrol is more or less what Napalm is....

[Squaredy]

10 hours ago, openspaceman said:

I see this but in your case is there any danger of people disposing of them improperly?

 

If not what problem do you have with landfill or incineration?

For the most part hopefully they will be binned when used, so you have a fair point, we could incinerate them and as they are plant based I guess this will be no more polluting than burning firewood.  So yes this might be an option.  

 

In a wider context, I am not totally impressed with PLA products (or Vegware) as the compostible claim is rather misleading.  But as long as the waste goes for incineration I guess it is OK.  Ironically this may not help us to meet EU targets as it is not recycling, so I don't think it will be encouraged by councils.

[The avantgardener]

What about getting someone to turn a load of wooden mugs in different species  to show off the timbers, keeps warm, doesn’t get too hot to hold.

Apparently the Romans turned wine vessels out of large Ivy stems, really thin walled and waterproof.

[scbk]

2 minutes ago, Squaredy said:

For the most part hopefully they will be binned when used, so you have a fair point, we could incinerate them and as they are plant based I guess this will be no more polluting than burning firewood.  So yes this might be an option.  

 

In a wider context, I am not totally impressed with PLA products (or Vegware) as the compostible claim is rather misleading.  But as long as the waste goes for incineration I guess it is OK.  Ironically this may not help us to meet EU targets as it is not recycling, so I don't think it will be encouraged by councils.

I wonder if the best disposable cups for the environment would be the cheapest "normal" paper cups (that have the plastic lining) and then getting them put into separate bin so you can burn them.

Ok, you'll be burning plastic, but a tiny amount, and if they go on a stove, you're getting some use out of it.

 

And the impact of making the cups is probably a hell of a lot lower than the "eco friendly" versions.

[Squaredy]

9 minutes ago, scbk said:

I wonder if the best disposable cups for the environment would be the cheapest "normal" paper cups (that have the plastic lining) and then getting them put into separate bin so you can burn them.

Ok, you'll be burning plastic, but a tiny amount, and if they go on a stove, you're getting some use out of it.

 

And the impact of making the cups is probably a hell of a lot lower than the "eco friendly" versions.

I see where you are coming from but I just cannot bring myself to keep buying plastic products where there is any sort of choice.  Do you know that we are all breathing in plastic in our homes on a daily basis, and we have no real idea of the consequences?  Last time I bought cups for the coffee machine I bought 1000 so it is not just the odd one or two. 

 

Are you breathing plastic air at home? Here’s how microplastics are polluting our lungs

WWW.WEFORUM.ORG

---

Many of the plastic particles found in our bodies come not from drinking bottled water or eating polluted fish – but from the air we breathe, especially indoors. Here’s what to do...

 

[openspaceman]

56 minutes ago, scbk said:

I wonder if the best disposable cups for the environment would be the cheapest "normal" paper cups (that have the plastic lining) and then getting them put into separate bin so you can burn them.

Ok, you'll be burning plastic, but a tiny amount, and if they go on a stove, you're getting some use out of it.

 

 

I don't fully advocate this and in @Squaredy's case it would contravene the incineration directive, fair enough in a domestic stove though. The thing is we should have confidence in our refuse disposal system such that it is either incinerated cleanly in a purpose built facility or landfilled in a sealed cell which is monitored for leachate.

 

In fact since I realised tea bags needed plastic in them to be thermally sealed I dry them and burn them or put them in the black bag rubbish.

 

Actually for the last two months I have reverted to leaf tea.

 

A young lady I am unduly fond of criticised me for my woolly thinking about plastics when I queried how come life forms had evolved truly amazing and complex molecules, like chlorophyll and DNA, yet had not managed to make simple polymers like PVC or polythene, could it be that they had been previously synthesised and found not to be conducive to life?

[Squaredy]

7 minutes ago, openspaceman said:

Actually for the last two months I have reverted to leaf tea.

I also have reverted to leaf tea and tea pot, though I believe some tea bags are plastic free.  

[scbk]

Burning plastic (and generating useful heat) isn't great for the environment, but neither are the "eco friendly" alternatives, which probably produce more co2 in production and transport.

 

 

 

Makes me think of the plastic wrapped cucumbers:

 

The plastic packaging paradox

WWW.BBC.CO.UK

---

Good packaging prevents waste, but too often becomes pollution.

 

"The trade-off is hard to fathom.

Depending on how much of the heavier, recyclable packaging would in practice be recycled, you might find that the lighter, non-recyclable packaging actually generates less waste.

And once you start looking into plastic packaging, this kind of counterintuitive conclusion comes up all the time.

Some packaging is a foolish waste.

But are shrink-wrapped cucumbers really so silly if it means they stay fresh for 14 days rather than three?

 

Which is worse 1.5g (0.05oz) of plastic wrap or entire cucumbers going off before being eaten? Suddenly it's not so obvious.".

[scbk]

39 minutes ago, openspaceman said:

 

I don't fully advocate this and in @Squaredy's case it would contravene the incineration directive, fair enough in a domestic stove though. The thing is we should have confidence in our refuse disposal system such that it is either incinerated cleanly in a purpose built facility or landfilled in a sealed cell which is monitored for leachate.

 

My view on things is always going to be slightly different, as I live somewhere where everything is taken in and out by road, including rubbish.

I recycle very little paper, I see it's more useful to burn it or compost it, than send it off for recycling, which would no doubt be at a paper mill down in England somewhere?

 

Even raw sewage is loaded onto HGVs and driven 150 odd miles away, as the publicly owned water company have all but stopped collecting from septic tanks

[openspaceman]

20 minutes ago, scbk said:

My view on things is always going to be slightly different, as I live somewhere where everything is taken in and out by road, including rubbish.

I recycle very little paper, I see it's more useful to burn it or compost it, than send it off for recycling,

When I grew up there was no recycling  but most homes had fires and all the paper got used to light them, similarly there was no plastic packaging other than celophane. The only reason I don't burn much paper now is that it produces more ash, so it's more convenient to put it in the blue bin.

20 minutes ago, scbk said:

 

Even raw sewage is loaded onto HGVs and driven 150 odd miles away, as the publicly owned water company have all but stopped collecting from septic tanks

I only lived in a house with a cess pit for two years, hoped to buy the place but it was a tied cottage. That was raw sewage that had to be tankered away, I thought a septic tank needed cleaning less frequently as it was basically only a sludge that built up over a year or so and was less environmetally unsound @eggsarascal?