UAE | General
Dispose or reuse?
So, you thought taking your own mug to the office was a great idea? Think again. According to some estimates, producing a plastic cup may take lesser energy than what you use to wash your coffee mug each day.
- By Huda Tabrez, Community Web Editor
- Published: 23:59 June 6, 2009
- Image Credit:
So, you thought taking your own mug to the office was a great idea? Think again. According to some estimates, producing a plastic cup may take lesser energy than what you use to wash your coffee mug each day.
So, let's start by setting the record straight — your glass mug is not the planet's saviour and single-use plastic cups are not the villains they are made out to be. Both have their benefits and drawbacks, and you need to decide how to wipe out the waste from your office lifestyle.
Understanding the complete lifecycle of each option might help you take the right decision. Reusable mugs take more energy to produce than those plastic cups quietly stacked next to the vending machine.
They also take up a lot of water and a bit of dishwashing liquid after you've had your morning coffee. And if you are among those who like it spick and span, you'd probably pull out a paper tissue to pat your mug dry before it perfectly sits on your desk, ready for the next use.
The big question is: Are all these costs worth it? The biggest advantage disposable cups have is that they consume very little energy compared to reusable ones.
Dr Martin Hocking, Professor Emeritus at the University of Victoria in Canada, conducted a study in 1994 analysing the impact of reusable and disposable cups on the environment. The conclusions may force you to rethink investing in a ceramic mug at the office. Its production takes 70 times more energy than a foam cup, which effectively makes your ceramic mug worse for the environment, unless you plan to use it at least 900 times. So, with two coffee breaks a day, that "I heart Dad" mug needs to carry on for at least 14 months before it justifies the energy used to manufacture and clean it.
Also, little cracks in your ceramic mug can breed bacteria, rendering it unfit for use. This attaches a very high environmental cost to the slightest damage to your mug.
Zahid Hamid, commercial manager for UAE-based Milco plastics, felt that there is serious merit in the plastic cups argument.
He said: "Disposable cups significantly reduce the chances of transfer of communicable diseases in the office and provide a hygienic and convenient option to employees."
Dr Hocking agreed. In offices for a mining firm or an oil processing centre, he said that the use of disposable cups would be more logical.
"This decision would be positively reinforced, if this was accompanied by proper collection of the used cups, and periodic shipping of the collected plastics to a reprocessing area for recovery and reuse," he wrote to Gulf News.
Another aspect where disposable cups score over reusable ones is their easy availability, which saves the company valuable time. Save a Cup, a campaign to collect polystyrene cups in the UK, does some interesting number-crunching.
Its website states: "Just 20 people having three drinks a day and taking five minutes to wash their cup before each drink amounts to... an annual loss of a massive 150 days of production from the work force!"
Save a Cup has taken recycling of plastic cups to the next level, with the used plastic cups being downcycled into various second-generation plastic products like retractable pens, fridge magnets and key rings, which may be used at the same office to hammer the message home.
But most countries do not have such recycling facilities in place and in all probability, you may not be using a pencil made out of the cup you put in the recycling bin last week. So, what happens if you simply throw the plastic cup in the bin?
Pretty much what happens to most disposable crockery — they add to the increasing load on landfills.
And, that brings us back to that coffee mug sitting on your desk. There is some good news — if you are conservative with the water usage, washing your cup and reusing it would truly help you wipe out waste. Most experts advise employers to install a dishwashing machine at their office, as it makes optimal use of hot water, minimising environmental damage.
Dr Hocking suggests using minimal water resources in case such facilities are not available. Also, the person doing the washing needs to be trained to minimise water wastage and clean the mugs thoroughly.
But what about benefits to you?
What an online recruitment website, employmentspot.com, says might catch your fancy.
"With employers focused on helping the environment, they want their employees to fall in line and may be more likely to promote people who support these greener policies," its website states. There is merit in using both disposable and reusable cups cautiously. The decision is yours.
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