Castilleja students and faculty face the important decision of choosing between paper and ceramic plates every day at lunch. While many opt for paper plates due to their convenience, others choose to stick with traditional ceramic plates. However, most don’t consider the environmental factors when making this crucial decision.
Despite often being labeled and marketed as a “sustainable option” and “eco-friendly” by sustainable companies like Green Paper Products and Ecovita, paper plates have many environmental downsides in comparison to ceramic plates, such as contributing to deforestation and being single-use. Paper plate usage has a cost, so here are some reasons why you should make the switch.
Recycling and Compostability: Despite being recyclable or compostable, paper plates produce more waste than ceramic plates.
Castilleja’s paper plates are compostable, so they can’t be that bad, right? Wrong. In fact, many paper plates end up in the recycling or landfill. Recycling programs can’t process these plates because they are food-soiled, so they are eventually sorted into the landfill. In turn, this contributes to the paper waste that already makes up 25% of American landfills. Once in these landfills, paper plates take an exceptionally long time to break down. Compostable paper plates can take up to five years to decompose, while other paper plates, such as recyclable and especially wax-coated paper plates, can take up to 50 years to break down. As these paper plates break down, they produce and emit methane. While methane is better than other greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, it is still highly toxic and harmful to our environment.
Carbon Emissions: Manufacturing paper plates produces more carbon emissions than ceramic plates.
Manufacturing just one paper plate can produce up to 3.8 grams of carbon emissions. Additionally, the preparation needed for manufacturing, such as setting up a wood logging site, logging the wood and transporting it to a mill, produces, on average, 36.1 kg of emissions per cubic meter of wood.
Paper plates can only be used once; therefore, Castilleja kitchen staff must constantly order more to replenish their supply. Paper plates must be transported from factories to warehouses before eventually reaching our school. The total transportation required produces significant carbon emissions that ceramic plates do not produce, as Castilleja does not need to purchase them as frequently. On average, the manufacturing of each ceramic plate produces around 600 grams of carbon emissions, and after 158 uses, each ceramic plate would have less net carbon emissions than paper plates.
Water Use: Manufacturing one paper plate requires more water than washing ceramic plates.
While it might seem like ceramic plates require a lot of water, as they must be washed frequently, paper plates require even more. On average, sinks dispense around two to five gallons of water per minute. One dishwashing cycle can use anywhere from three to fifteen gallons of water. This may seem like a lot, but producing just one paper plate requires eight gallons of water. Therefore, washing just three dishes in the dishwasher or hand washing a little less than one plate a minute requires less water usage than the amount it takes to produce paper plates.
This isn’t just about plates—the same applies to choosing which utensils, cups and bowls you use. While choosing a ceramic plate won’t magically save the planet, as a school and community, small choices like these are great ways to reduce waste, carbon footprint and water usage, and collectively can help us make a change. The next time you have to decide between a paper and ceramic plate, make a choice not just for yourself but also for the planet.
