DEBRIS.COMgood for a laugh, or possibly an aneurysm

In today’s SF Chronicle, reader Rajvinder Kaur offers this boneheaded suggestion for saving energy: “Start using disposable stuff even at home so that you use the dishwasher infrequently.” (I mean no offense to Kaur; perhaps he was misquoted.)

I invite the Chronicle, which printed Kaur’s suggestion without editorial comment, to take Kaur on a tour of the landfills in Alameda county, which are packing away about 2M tons of solid waste per year, to see (and smell) the results of this energy-saving “stragedy.” Tip: wear a biohazard suit.

Maybe I’m dumb, but I can’t fathom how disposable tableware could possibly save energy. Let’s do a quick analysis:

• to buy disposable goods you have to drive to the supermarket, burning gas, oil, and rubber, spraying toxic chemicals throughout your neighborhood
• disposable goods are generally packaged in plastic, which you have to discard. (read on to find out what happens to plastic refuse)
• paper plates and cups can be recycled, assuming a truck comes through your neighborhood to haul away the paper, and then big machines shred and crush and bleach the paper, creating more vast clouds of toxic chemicals, including dioxin
• plastic plates, forks, knives, cups, etc., are often made of petroleum products, and when you throw them into the trash they have to be hauled to the landfill, where they decompose slowly for 100 to 500 years
• Styrofoam plates and cups have to be hauled to the landfill, where they’ll sit unchanged for over a million years, because Styrofoam never decomposes

In contrast, Kaur could take a non-disposable plate and glass from the cupboard, a non-disposable knife and fork from the drawer, and wash them all off when he’s done, with about a quart of water. Let them air-dry. Total waste: none. Total petroleum consumed while hauling waste: none. Total energy expended: whatever it took to make a quart of warm water.

I respect anyone who tries to reduce energy consumption — especially when my power is out. But to conclude that the best way to save energy is to use disposable goods is to be clueless to the big picture, in which the planet is slowly choking under the weight of its own waste. The casual disregard for what happens after discarding “disposable” goods is irksome; it’s as if there’s no world outside one’s own property lines.

To put a positive spin on this rant, I’ll list some ways to save energy which don’t come at the cost of the health of neighbors and future generations.

• Instead of watching television for hours per day, try reading a book. Share the (fluorescent) light with a friend, kids, spouse.
• Unplug your TV when not in use, to save the “phantom power”
• run only full loads of laundry through your washing machine
• vote to approve construction of the local nuke plant, so long as they bury the radioactive waste in some other county (just kidding)

See also: great tips for saving household energy, great resources for becoming waste conscious and energy efficient