Is it true that paper cups are more environmentally friendly than plastic ones?

In many cafes and restaurants, plastic disposable dishes have long been changed to paper or cardboard, allegedly taking care of the environment. We decided to check if the cardboard dishes are so environmentally friendly.

The fact that paper cups are more environmentally friendly of plastic ones. Manufacturers And Suppliers Such dishes. Popular cafes and restaurants Rapid nutrition replace plastic with paper, attracting customers with imaginary environmental friendliness. Even the Government of the Russian Federation already Working out The bill on the ban on plastic, and will most likely replace it with paper analogues.

First disposable paper cup appeared In 1908-and not at all because of the concern for the environment. Then in America, there were machine guns for the sale of soda on the streets, where reusable glasses were used. Naturally, they were extremely rarely processed (if they did it at all), and they simply was also washed after each client, and they often became a source of infections and diseases. And then Hugh Moore and Lawrence Luellen, entrepreneurs from Massachusetts, came up with paper cups just as safe for health and, importantly, a cheap alternative to faceted glasses. And they certainly answered these goals.

But what about ecology? At first glance, it really seems that paper dishes should be more environmentally friendly plastic, because paper waste decomposes in a few months, and plastic from several tens to hundreds of years. But in fact, paper cups are not quite paper. Otherwise, after a couple of minutes after the purchase, coffee lovers would have poured boiling water, because ordinary paper and cardboard will soak very quickly. To prevent this from happening, manufacturers of disposable dishes cover the cardboard from the inside with a thin layer of plastic. And this is right away Increases The decomposition of such a glass from several months to 30 years.

It would seem that this is still not such a long time compared to how much pure plastic decomposes. But the fact is that in most countries of the world, including in Russia, the latter is already not bad learned process and use again. It is also easy to process the cardboard into recyclable, only the plastic and paper must be divided for this that in the case of disposable cups covered with a very thin layer of plastic, it is almost impossible. Thus, they go to mixed waste, that is, just to a landfill. And the stories of sellers and owners of a cafe about how environmentally friendly they are - just marketing.

Another problem of paper glasses for the environment is that they are not used by recyclable, as they are in contact with food. That is, for each new batch of such dishes you have to cut down trees. Greenpeace Notesthat the tree on average grows for about 50 years, but, becoming a glass, turns into garbage 15 minutes after the purchase. At the same time, for the production of 2500 glasses you need to cut one tree. It seems to be not so much. But all over the world, about 32 million trees are cut out annually for these purposes. Is it possible to consider this more careful alternative to the environment? Doubtful.

Moreover, in the production of just one paper glass, according to data Greenpeace, produced 100 g Co₂ (about so much produces an average car, passing every kilometer).

In addition, Indian scientists conducted study And they found out that from the same plastic film, particles of microplasty and other harmful substances are released into hot drinks, including heavy metals, so even in this sense cardboard cups are no better than ordinary plastic.

The good news is that some Manufacturers They try to change the production of paper dishes in such a way that it still becomes environmentally friendly not only in the words of marketerists. And last year, one of the Russian waste processing plants already I tried To establish the processing of such glasses for recyclables. But so far these are only the first steps, individual attempts, so it will cease to be a problem from the day from the day a ton of cardboard glasses used is early.

In some countries, for example, in Germany, they already realized that cardboard glasses are not at all as harmless as they seem at first glance and try fight With them, introducing an margin for customers or offering discounts to those who come with their glass. Numerous American startups focused on the environment are trying to come up with high -tech Solutions this problem. For example, they apply QR codes to such dishes, so that you can then track them, take them to special reception points and control distribution.

Campaign Russian eco -activists and Russian eco -activists come for coffee.

Most of the untruth

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. Greenpeace newsletter about how to live environmentally friendly
2. Podcast "What are we doing for the sake of ecology?"