At home, we have been using cloth napkins for a few years and now it feels totally normal. We have ~ 20 napkins that we use for a few meals and then just throw them in the laundry. Less garbage, fewer trees cut down, and no hassle on our part.
We were recently looking to buy some cloth napkins for Grandma, and finding super eco-friendly cloth napkin options (i.e. bamboo, hemp, organic cotton or otherwise sustainable fabric) is not that easy. We eventually narrowed it down to these choices:
- Litter Free Lunch: organic cotton cloth napkins
- World of Good: Bali cotton napkins made in Indoneisa through Fair Trade Winds
Whenever I switch from paper anything to something reusable, I always wonder to myself how to weigh the energy and water costs necessary for reusing. Not so much with the cloth napkins, which probably go into a load of laundry you were going to do anyway, but for instance for companies that install dishwashers and use up other resources (energy, water, detergent, etc.) that would not otherwise be used when they switch from, say, paper cups to glassware and mugs. No easy answer. I just wonder sometimes when I'm washing my mug which of the two options is the lesser evil. I tend to lean toward saving trees, landfill waste and/or recycling costs (as weighed against the energy/water/detergent usage), but still something I think about.
ReplyDeleteAlice, totally agree that these are things that should be considered. On top of that, a lot of the common knowledge that is thrown out there, especially "scientific" findings like LCA (life cycle analysis) things that are referenced, is either false or easily manipulated. The paper industry will often fund studies that show that disposable things are more "eco-friendly" than re-usable things. Obviously there is a vested interest. So you're right, no easy answers.
ReplyDeleteBut there can be general guidelines. Disposable should be considered over the life of what you are comparing it to (i.e. how many paper cups would you use if the average lifetime of your glass mug is 8 years?) as well as the production processes for producing each. (Paper is a horrendously energy and often chemical intensive process.) The process for making the non-disposable item as well as the natural resources used for it should also be considered. In LCAs, they often also consider the energy mix - that is, how is the energy used for production actually produced? Solar powered is obviously better than coal-powered.
But beyond these complicated analyses, I think using disposable things creates a culture of convenience and disposal - not really a good thing.
By the way, treehugger had an article a year or so ago that showed that although we like to think of handwashing as less energy-intense, it is often not the case. Turns out, we're pretty wasteful handwashers, even the best of us.