How’d you like your tea in 2010?

The generic green tip of preferring reusable products to disposables (like throw-away plastic bottles, bags, cups) has immaculate facts and reasons (e.g., massive erosion & contamination of natural resources) supporting it, and rests well with people. But, when it comes to paper products, some are tempted to view them – particularly cups, since tissue papers, etc. are too conspicuous culprits – as an exception. This is largely down to their (misconceived) biodegradable property (very few are aware of the presence of a plastic resin in nearly all paper cups [1]), and sometimes the fact that the alternatives like steel/glass/ceramic mugs consume water (& pollute it via detergents) for washing. Here’s a factual attempt to put things in perspective, to establish beyond doubt that paper cups indeed deplete/pollute natural resources (including water) exorbitantly more than their reusable counterparts.

Enormous water usage in making paper

Manufacturing paper requires harvesting trees and using machines to turn the wood into wood chips. The chips are heavily washed to remove any dirt, and then mixed with more water and processed. The resulting paper pulp is dried and the fibers are pressed together to make paper. Wiki stats on this process amount to a thumping water loss of around 1 liter per cup (a US estimate) [2]. In the Indian context, a remarkably more alarming figure of 4.5 liters for each tiny cup is quoted (by the ToI) [3]! Moreover, paper making usually necessitates inorganic chemicals, and the waste water released is contaminated [2]. More details as to how the paper industry offsets the water pollution induced by washing a reusable mug with detergents.

Throw in scores of trees, energy and emissions!

Manufacturing 60000 cups, which are used up in just 2-3 weeks in many offices, swallows 2500 kg of wood (tantamount to about a dozen trees) 9,000 litres of oil, 8,000 kilowatt hours of energy, and emits 1,300 kg of air pollutants. Plus, every uprooted tree can no longer absorb CO2, produce oxygen, or filter groundwater! A stainless steel mug (typically designed for ~3000 uses) breaks even with paper cups (w.r.t. environmental impact) after just 24 uses! [3][4][1][5]

The moral of the story:

Make the choosing of reusables over disposables - cloth bags over plastic bags, handkerchiefs over paper tissues, mugs over cups, durable water bottles, and so forth – one of your new year resolutions! Also, take it up with your company/college: If discarding disposables altogether is infeasible at first, ensure the availability of the greener choice and couple it with avid awareness generation.

PS: Even if we wash mugs carelessly, we will consume far less water than that for paper cups. However, that shouldn’t be an excuse for not exercising water efficient washing [tap kept closed while scrubbing/soaping, minimal water force]. Another pertinent tip is to use individual water bottles/glasses over common glasses to avert the water wasted in washing.

An outright myth: Recycling magically fixes all evils of consumerism!

Recycling (as well as composting) of paper cups is uncommon (due to the aforementioned plastic resin), and guzzles 12 trees, 26k liters of water & sizable energy/oil, for 60k cups. The majority end up in a landfill, emitting methane – a mighty GHG – as they decompose. Moreover, most cups are made using 100% bleached virgin paperboard. In addition to health issues w.r.t. recycled pulp, it isn’t strong enough to hold a liquid. [2][3][5]

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