Answer: "White, seemingly indestructible, and bad for the environment."

[Grace62]

Pam wrote:
I find this to be a very childish move. Like being more responsible is some kind of horrible lefty thing. Yeesh.

Agree. True of so many things.

[Acer]

Paper v plastic is not as clear cut as it may first seem when you consider the entire energy budget of the item, not just the disposal issues. Styrofoam takes a minuscule amount of energy and material to manufacture and distribute, for example.

But the Repubs aren't thinking about that. They are just doing to it be jerks.

[decocritter]

Why don't they each get a permanent insulated nissan mug and it could be washed when needed at said locals in Congress. Leave it and get a fresh one.

Where is personal responsibility.

[$tevie]

decocritter wrote:
Why don't they each get a permanent insulated nissan mug and it could be washed when needed at said locals in Congress. Leave it and get a fresh one.

Where is personal responsibility.

That is too sensible, no wonder nobody in Congress could come up with it!

[cbelt3]

Grace-
most of these relate to a Canadian researcher's estimate on the energy budget side.. Unfortunately his paper is behind a paywall, so I'm stuck with theoretically 'edumaficated' reviews of the paper.

The main point of all this is that you can't make a knee jerk reaction to any particular thing without studying reality. Of course politics is the art of making reality look and feel the way you want it to. Heck... just as Galileo how science was treated by the political forces of his time.

[mattkime]

I don't think its knee jerk to say that we shouldn't be putting certain materials into our environment.

how much will those cups contribute to the plastic gyre in the pacific ocean?

[cbelt3]

Mattk-
How we manage the solid waste stream is an entirely separate thing. I'd rather see more energy spent on solid waste management, recycling, etc. than on yammering about congress' use of styrofoam..... Heck, I'd rather issue 'em all a tin cup and put 'em out in the street selling pencils.

Solid waste policy is a big issue. Especially with our 'no consumer repairable parts inside' 'just toss it' society. Want true sustainability ? Stop the waste stream ! Change product laws to include repairability and recycleability. Then force recycleability.

Curbside recycling isn't done much anymore because it doesn't 'pay'. That's because cities use a false economy... they don't factor in the cost savings of NOT putting that waste in a dump.. the cost of managing the dump side... the cost of ground water mitigation... etc... etc... etc..

A lot of bad decisions are made because of poor overall accounting practices.

[mattkime]

>>How we manage the solid waste stream is an entirely separate thing.

Its clearly not separate. Until all garbage is contained, we might as well throw some percentage of those styrofoam cups directly into the ocean.

[RgrF]

cbelt3 wrote:
Mattk-
How we manage the solid waste stream is an entirely separate thing. I'd rather see more energy spent on solid waste management, recycling, etc. than on yammering about congress' use of styrofoam..... Heck, I'd rather issue 'em all a tin cup and put 'em out in the street selling pencils.

Solid waste policy is a big issue. Especially with our 'no consumer repairable parts inside' 'just toss it' society. Want true sustainability ? Stop the waste stream ! Change product laws to include repairability and recycleability. Then force recycleability.

Curbside recycling isn't done much anymore because it doesn't 'pay'. That's because cities use a false economy... they don't factor in the cost savings of NOT putting that waste in a dump.. the cost of managing the dump side... the cost of ground water mitigation... etc... etc... etc..

A lot of bad decisions are made because of poor overall accounting practices.

So having a GOP dominated government body declare they don't think a problem exists squares with cbelts solution how? Oh I forgot he didn't propose a solution did he?

[OWC Jamie]

mattkime wrote:
>>How we manage the solid waste stream is an entirely separate thing.

Its clearly not separate. Until all garbage is contained, we might as well throw some percentage of those styrofoam cups directly into the ocean.

Where do the bleach and other chemicals from recycling paper go ?
Mars ?
Because one can "see" pollution visibly it is somehow unjustifiable in comparison ?
They both suck.



That paper cup you throw in the landfill will still be a paper cup 20 years from now just like the styrofoam cup.
Crush both and guess which one takes less space. Yes, styrofoam wins.
Guess which costs more to make. Ha-ha, styrofoam wins again.
Guess which one uses less raw materials and energy to produce . Yup, styrofoam.
Which one weighs less and costs less to ship ( trying to cut back on fossil fuel use here ? ) styrofoam wins again.



I use a ceramic or glass mug and will only buy a paper cup because I shred them and put them in the compost.
Most people won't make that effort.
It may use a bit more energy, but 50 years from now when I am gone I will have left less of an impact ecologically on the earth.


Styrofoam cups should go in the landfill or be recycled. More landfills may be mined in the future and those cups may be valuable.
But yeah, no reason to be a slob and toss crap in the woods or ocean that nature will struggle with.