Shops large and small far and wide are pontificating to allabout how green they are and how many rainforests they are saving buy flogging their new "eco" products to us. Whole companies have sprung up dedicated solely to supplying us with green merchandise, telling us on how to live our lives, and by chance selling the eco products we must have in order to avoid destruction.
It is truly amazing just how many companies are singly handedly saving us from ourselves and our nasty consumerism, boo, hiss.
Trading on ones green concepts, particularly when there are none is pretty bad form methinks and I feel many shops are simply not thinking about the consequences of their actions when switching from one product to another, only caring about marketing themselves as a green, ethical company.
One of the most popular "eco" products to be marketed in this way are Poly Lactic Acid lined paper coffee cup offered by catering supplies firms, coffee chains and supermarkets.
Polylactide is a aliphatic polyester derived from "renewable resources" (I use the term loosely), such as corn starch (U.S.) or sugarcanes (rest of world). Although PLA has been around for a while, it has only been of commercial interest in recent years, in light of its biodegradability.
As well as being used to line the inside of paper cups instead of the plastic lining normally used PLA is in use in plastic cups, plastic cutlery, carrier bags, food packaging, all manner of catering disposables and even nappies.
These new "biodegradable" paper cups are now one of the most popular green products as we all try in our own little way to stop global warming.
One of the biggest problems associated with these new Poly Lactic Acid lined paper coffee cup being used at lots of stores and coffee chains all over the planet is that customers are thinking they will biodegrade in their trash when they need to be sent to composting facilities or put in your compost at home, planted individuallyand covered by nice warm compost. If these paper cups are simply trashed they decompose at the same rate as oil based plastic lined paper coffee cups, that is years and years
Unless individuals compost all their biodegradable cups at home (assuming they are aware they have been given one) there will now be two types of paper cups requiring sorting at waste reclamation centres whereas in the past all waste paper cups could be easily sent for recycling without having to separate them.
Moreover once these new paper cups find their way into normal recycling channels (and you cannot tell the difference) it will ruin the entire recycling batch as normal plastic lining on normal paper cups and the starch based natural lining on the biodegradable cups does not mix well. You get the oil on water scenario.
Most companies manufacturing, marketing or using these products also seem not to have thought about what was removed from the earth in order to grow crops to make this natural product. Like bio fuels fields once used for production of food is now being used for crops to grow alternatives to plastics and petrol. There are even reports of forests being felled in order to make space to grow the sugar cane plants. This contributes to increases in food prices, the result of which most will have noticed over the past 12 months. There will never be enough available space to fully change over from our dependence on plastics to enable us to move to growing this naturally produced alternative, everybody would starve.
On the subject of starving people one other factor to consider regarding these new  Poly Lactic Acid plastic products is that we have spent a long time giving subsidies to farmers in Africa to assist them create crops and stand on their own two feet. Many of the crops these farmers are harvesting are corn or sugarcane.
As we are now mass producing those same crops for Bio Fuel and alternatives to plastics, lowering the prices, plunging these people back into poverty.
There are alternatives that given a little more thought could do many of the jobs these companies hope to achieve through their use of Poly Lactic Acid lined or produced cups. Oxo-biodegradable Plastic (OBP's) for example are normal plastics such as polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS) and polyethylene (PE) to which is added a mixture (d2w additive) that accelerates the decomposition of the chemical structure of the material.
Oxo-biodegradable Plasticswill degrade, then biodegrade, on land or at sea, in the light or the dark, in heat or cold, at a pre-determined rate, leaving no fragments, giving off no methane and leaving no harmful residues.
The resultant broken down products are then amenable to conversion by micro-organisms, for which these products are food and also into carbon dioxide and water; thereby returning otherwise intractable plastics to the ecosystem.
These Oxo-biodegradable Plastics can now have a shelf life, pre-determined when manufactured Utilising oxo-biodegradable plastics does not prevent them from being recycled.
Sadly there are many more stories like this, such as the major burger house that dropped its plastic coffee stirrers and switched to wooden stirrers in an effort at greening their company. Out of fear of lawsuits from customers for getting wooden splinters in customers mouths with their wood stirrers they insisted that they are covered with gelatin (like your prescription pills). Adding this extra process to the production of the stirrers costs a lot of energy, to the point where the natural product becomes more energy intensive than simply using plastic. Another classic greening was the banks saving acres of rainforest by using green bank accounts which use paperless statements, an idea I learned about from a paper flyer and noticed advertised on billboard advertisements.
Plastics are not "evil" as many would have you think, reducing our dependence on it is a good idea however we cannot just replace all plastic with a seemingly greener alternative without considering all the repercussions, and definitely not just to be seen to be greening your company
Friday 24 July 2009
Recycled Paper Tableware
Can there be much difference in the quality of one disposable table cloth to another? Does the method in which one is manufactured have much bearing on its quality, sustainability or suitability?
The answer is maybe so.
There are numerous manufacturers of disposable table cloths, paper napkins and banquet rolls in the United Kingdom, but there only seems to be one which offers a product which is 100% recycled.
This paper table cloth is called Dispotex and is distributed by Dispo International and Event Supplies, both are catering supplies distributors in West Yorkshire.
The reason there is only one manufacturer which offers a 100% recycled paper table cloth is unclear, maybe it has to do with a confused understanding of our laws concerning recycled content in food packaging.
At the moment it is against the law for any disposable food container product which comes into direct contact with foodstuffs to have any recycled content, obviously one would not want something which was once toilet paper to then become something you put in your mouth! Most people don't eat their dinner directly from a tablecover, most still using crockery, therefore a disposable table cloth is the perfect type of catering disposable product to incorporate recycled paper (oddly you can find recycled paper serviettes available here, beware!)
With regard to the look and feel of the tablecloths most of the other manufacturers pin emboss their banquet paper to provide a basic pattern but the Dispotex product is damask steam embossed and looks more attractive. As the Tablecloth is steam embossed the paper is used to water and is more resistant to liquids should accidents occur.
The answer is maybe so.
There are numerous manufacturers of disposable table cloths, paper napkins and banquet rolls in the United Kingdom, but there only seems to be one which offers a product which is 100% recycled.
This paper table cloth is called Dispotex and is distributed by Dispo International and Event Supplies, both are catering supplies distributors in West Yorkshire.
The reason there is only one manufacturer which offers a 100% recycled paper table cloth is unclear, maybe it has to do with a confused understanding of our laws concerning recycled content in food packaging.
At the moment it is against the law for any disposable food container product which comes into direct contact with foodstuffs to have any recycled content, obviously one would not want something which was once toilet paper to then become something you put in your mouth! Most people don't eat their dinner directly from a tablecover, most still using crockery, therefore a disposable table cloth is the perfect type of catering disposable product to incorporate recycled paper (oddly you can find recycled paper serviettes available here, beware!)
With regard to the look and feel of the tablecloths most of the other manufacturers pin emboss their banquet paper to provide a basic pattern but the Dispotex product is damask steam embossed and looks more attractive. As the Tablecloth is steam embossed the paper is used to water and is more resistant to liquids should accidents occur.
Polycarbonate Pint glasses
Unbreakable Polycarbonate Pint Glasses and rigid Polystrene Reusable Pint Tumblers are becoming a common feature in pubs and nightclubs up and down the UK, increasingly so since the introduction of the smoking ban. As people who smoke are forced outside to smoke - taking their Pint Glass with them - so we have seen a rise in the number of "glassings" (sadly the word "Glass" is now a verb in this country "to glass")
As a consequence of this rise in injuries more councils, public houses and police forces are demanding that unbreakable Plastic Glasses are used after certain times of the day, usually in the evening after 7pm (it seems the availability of alcohol 24 hours a day in the UK hasn't changed our drinking habits too much)
Funding for such fundamental changes to our drinking vessels has been provided by some local authorities to assist some establishments in the change over, monies one imagines has been saved from a reduction in ambulance call outs and doctors time.
There are two types of Plastic Cups which are now becoming commonplace, unbreakable Polycarbonate glasses and Polystyrene reusable glasses.
The Polycarbonate material was used for commercial plane windscreens as the aeroplanes needed a clear material tougher than glass as the screens regularly came into contact with birds. Polycarbonate is now notably used for Plastic cups and Bullet Proof Glass, the material looks just like real glass and is lighter in weight than glass.
Unlike Polycarbonate Glasses Rigid Polystyrene glasses will break but not easily so they could not be used as a stabbing weapon and are a cheap way of avoiding using glass.
As a consequence of this rise in injuries more councils, public houses and police forces are demanding that unbreakable Plastic Glasses are used after certain times of the day, usually in the evening after 7pm (it seems the availability of alcohol 24 hours a day in the UK hasn't changed our drinking habits too much)
Funding for such fundamental changes to our drinking vessels has been provided by some local authorities to assist some establishments in the change over, monies one imagines has been saved from a reduction in ambulance call outs and doctors time.
There are two types of Plastic Cups which are now becoming commonplace, unbreakable Polycarbonate glasses and Polystyrene reusable glasses.
The Polycarbonate material was used for commercial plane windscreens as the aeroplanes needed a clear material tougher than glass as the screens regularly came into contact with birds. Polycarbonate is now notably used for Plastic cups and Bullet Proof Glass, the material looks just like real glass and is lighter in weight than glass.
Unlike Polycarbonate Glasses Rigid Polystyrene glasses will break but not easily so they could not be used as a stabbing weapon and are a cheap way of avoiding using glass.
The Champagne Flute Debate
Often people query the description of One Piece Injection Moulded Plastic Champagne Flutes, the query being what does One Piece refer? This simply means that the product is in-one-piece, not in two or three parts. There are many Champagne Glasses for sale which come with the bases loose, these are to be attached prior to use.
While these Plastic Glasses may be cheaper to move around (you can fit more in a box) and as a result a little cheaper to purchase, if you are having a £50 bottle of Bollinger saving a few pennies on your Plastic Glass can prove a fruitless exercise as explained below.
Two piece flutes sometimes wobble as many of the bases do not fit properly, are a pain to assemble and many bases will fall off leaving you unable to put your Champagne down!
One Piece Champagne Flutes obviously do not have this problem and are much closer in appearance to real glass flutes.
Many would argue against drinking Champers from anything other than a proper flute but the plastic champagne glasses have their place, handing over £3.00 for a glass of Champagne and making a profit is a fairly easy thing to do, but only if you receive your Champagne Flutes back from your customers.
Smashed glasses and cut feet are a problem many events organisers and Catering Supplies distributors would rather avoid too, sadly in todays compensation culture world one must cater for the worst case scenario and not rely upon any common sense being used.
While these Plastic Glasses may be cheaper to move around (you can fit more in a box) and as a result a little cheaper to purchase, if you are having a £50 bottle of Bollinger saving a few pennies on your Plastic Glass can prove a fruitless exercise as explained below.
Two piece flutes sometimes wobble as many of the bases do not fit properly, are a pain to assemble and many bases will fall off leaving you unable to put your Champagne down!
One Piece Champagne Flutes obviously do not have this problem and are much closer in appearance to real glass flutes.
Many would argue against drinking Champers from anything other than a proper flute but the plastic champagne glasses have their place, handing over £3.00 for a glass of Champagne and making a profit is a fairly easy thing to do, but only if you receive your Champagne Flutes back from your customers.
Smashed glasses and cut feet are a problem many events organisers and Catering Supplies distributors would rather avoid too, sadly in todays compensation culture world one must cater for the worst case scenario and not rely upon any common sense being used.
Ceramic Cups vs Paper Cups
Many coffee chains all over the world are now offering price breaks if customers bring ceramic coffee cups instead of using the stores own paper cups.
Most are lauded for their commitment to "going green" but is there any proof that these changes will have the desired effect and minimise our negative effect on the earth?
Research from the early 1990s suggests that each time you clean a mug in the dishwasher, it takes about as much energy - and would probably produce as many emissions - as it takes simply to produce a new paper cup!
Gains in dishwasher efficiency since then may have changed the math a little, but if you wash your ceramic cup after every use, you could easily be talking hundreds of cups of coffee before your mug makes more sense than a daily dose of paper. Cleaning the mug by hand may not absolve you, either - although you can help your case by using cold water and be sparse with the fairy - detergents are pretty energy-intensive to make.
The argument is worse when you compare Ceramic Mugs with Plastic Glasses
Reverting to china would be an ethical no brainer were it not for a seminal piece of academic analysis in the early Nineties by Dr Martin Hocking, Reusable and Disposable Cups: an Energy-Based Evaluation. He concluded you'd need to use your ceramic Cup 1,006 times for it to break even (in energy terms) with its polystyrene competitor. This is largely because kilns are extraordinarily energy intensive, because using a dishwasher to wash the cup also uses energy, and because cups get broken. Plastic cups also had a reasonably good recycling infrastructure in place: the UK's Save a Cup programme saveacup.co.uk still collects millions of plastic glasses from vending machines.
It seems whether an individual or massive coffee house you cannot win sometimes, whatever we do we seem to leave rubbish, create more waste, or anger some groups with our actions. Who actually considers all of the above when all you actually want is a Mocha Frappuccino, and quick?
Most are lauded for their commitment to "going green" but is there any proof that these changes will have the desired effect and minimise our negative effect on the earth?
Research from the early 1990s suggests that each time you clean a mug in the dishwasher, it takes about as much energy - and would probably produce as many emissions - as it takes simply to produce a new paper cup!
Gains in dishwasher efficiency since then may have changed the math a little, but if you wash your ceramic cup after every use, you could easily be talking hundreds of cups of coffee before your mug makes more sense than a daily dose of paper. Cleaning the mug by hand may not absolve you, either - although you can help your case by using cold water and be sparse with the fairy - detergents are pretty energy-intensive to make.
The argument is worse when you compare Ceramic Mugs with Plastic Glasses
Reverting to china would be an ethical no brainer were it not for a seminal piece of academic analysis in the early Nineties by Dr Martin Hocking, Reusable and Disposable Cups: an Energy-Based Evaluation. He concluded you'd need to use your ceramic Cup 1,006 times for it to break even (in energy terms) with its polystyrene competitor. This is largely because kilns are extraordinarily energy intensive, because using a dishwasher to wash the cup also uses energy, and because cups get broken. Plastic cups also had a reasonably good recycling infrastructure in place: the UK's Save a Cup programme saveacup.co.uk still collects millions of plastic glasses from vending machines.
It seems whether an individual or massive coffee house you cannot win sometimes, whatever we do we seem to leave rubbish, create more waste, or anger some groups with our actions. Who actually considers all of the above when all you actually want is a Mocha Frappuccino, and quick?
Friday 10 July 2009
How Recyclable are Paper Cups?
So you have orgaised an event using various catering supplies that include paper cups, you make sure they are all collected seperately after use and taken to the waste paper station. What will happen to these? Good question.
As covered in my previous posts, Paper Cups can either be wax or PLA coated. PLA coated cups can be very difficult to process without specialist equipment, this often results in the surpossed recycling being discarded and ending up in the landfill. The situation is slightly different with wax coated cups as these can be recycled without sorting, however it relys on the recycling station having a buyer for low grade reconstituted paper that does not mind small amounts of wax in their raw materials stream.
As you have probably guessed, the efficiency of recycling efforts with coated paper cups differs greatly depending on the facilities and arrangements of your local recycling centre. The bottom line is that if you want to be absolutely sure that your waste will not be wasted, you need to ask if the facilities can and will explicitely handle your particular brand of disposables.
As covered in my previous posts, Paper Cups can either be wax or PLA coated. PLA coated cups can be very difficult to process without specialist equipment, this often results in the surpossed recycling being discarded and ending up in the landfill. The situation is slightly different with wax coated cups as these can be recycled without sorting, however it relys on the recycling station having a buyer for low grade reconstituted paper that does not mind small amounts of wax in their raw materials stream.
As you have probably guessed, the efficiency of recycling efforts with coated paper cups differs greatly depending on the facilities and arrangements of your local recycling centre. The bottom line is that if you want to be absolutely sure that your waste will not be wasted, you need to ask if the facilities can and will explicitely handle your particular brand of disposables.
Monday 6 July 2009
Recycling Statistics
The total carbon footprint for a sample paper cup has been shown to be in the region of 0.11 kilos of CO2, this includes all aspects of the manufacture, materials, production, transportation and disposal.
Most of the raw materials used in the production of the paper cup comes from non-recycled sources. This seems like an odd choice for a disposable item such as a paper cup, surely it would be easy to infinitely reuse the same material from paper cups and avoid using more raw materials? Wrong. Because the paper is to come in direct contact with a food source, in this case a beverage, there are certain standards to be adhered to in terms of material quality. This means that these disposable items will continue to consume natural resources.
Looking at these figures it is easy to vilify the disposable paper cup as wasteful and harmful to the environment, an unnecessary evil where reusable products would be better placed to conserve natural resources. Actually no! In the second part of this story I will demonstrate how actually, the converse proves true instead.
Most of the raw materials used in the production of the paper cup comes from non-recycled sources. This seems like an odd choice for a disposable item such as a paper cup, surely it would be easy to infinitely reuse the same material from paper cups and avoid using more raw materials? Wrong. Because the paper is to come in direct contact with a food source, in this case a beverage, there are certain standards to be adhered to in terms of material quality. This means that these disposable items will continue to consume natural resources.
Looking at these figures it is easy to vilify the disposable paper cup as wasteful and harmful to the environment, an unnecessary evil where reusable products would be better placed to conserve natural resources. Actually no! In the second part of this story I will demonstrate how actually, the converse proves true instead.
What are Paper Cups made from anyway..?
A Paper Cup is intended primarily as a disposable means to drink a single cup of liquid refreshment, to this end it is manufactured in such a way that it costs a bare minimum to produce and uses a minimum of resources.
Initially cups were waterproofed using a process of spinning a later of clay from the bottom of the cup, hence lining the innards of the vessel and forming a watertight seal, this however had obvious disadvantages. The liquid from these cups became contaminated and tasted of cardboard. The obvious progression from the process was to use wax instead to form the watertight seal in hot and cold drinks cups, however this was quickly phases out with advances in polyethylene. The usage of polyethylene (PE) and seam welding produces a watertight seal suitable for hot and cold drinks, and is the cheapest option in terms of manufacturing.
Paper Cups are made primarily from renewable resources, this basically equates to wood chip (95%) and secondary components such as the PE waterproof layering. As you will no doubt have realized, the almost complete usage of wood chip in the construction of the cups makes them highly recyclable and potentially very green, however it is easy to forget about the PE layering that forms the inner wall of the vessel. Because of this layer (which needs to be separated before any recycling can take place) there can be complications in schemes designed to prevent cups ending up in the landfill.
Initially cups were waterproofed using a process of spinning a later of clay from the bottom of the cup, hence lining the innards of the vessel and forming a watertight seal, this however had obvious disadvantages. The liquid from these cups became contaminated and tasted of cardboard. The obvious progression from the process was to use wax instead to form the watertight seal in hot and cold drinks cups, however this was quickly phases out with advances in polyethylene. The usage of polyethylene (PE) and seam welding produces a watertight seal suitable for hot and cold drinks, and is the cheapest option in terms of manufacturing.
Paper Cups are made primarily from renewable resources, this basically equates to wood chip (95%) and secondary components such as the PE waterproof layering. As you will no doubt have realized, the almost complete usage of wood chip in the construction of the cups makes them highly recyclable and potentially very green, however it is easy to forget about the PE layering that forms the inner wall of the vessel. Because of this layer (which needs to be separated before any recycling can take place) there can be complications in schemes designed to prevent cups ending up in the landfill.
Friday 3 July 2009
Welcome to our Blog!
The aim of this new blog is to provide a digest and social commentary of all that is new and controversial in the world of catering supplies. disposable tableware and paper cups have had a bad rap recently with the current trends of green policy and waste control, but is there actually more to this topic than meets the eye?
It is all very well suggesting that anything disposable is bad for the environment, but is the situation so black and white? Actually no, it is not. There are many additional factors that would impact this argument, such as the state of the county's recycling policy and manufacturing processes, however the simple truth is that actually a disposable item can be more "green" than a reusable one? How so? Let me explain. A disposable item is very cheap to produce, and requires a minimum of materials to make, it is manufactured en mass and designed for a single use. In contrast to this, let us think about a rigid tumbler designed to be reused many times. Far more energy goes into the production of these items and they draw far more natural resources and materials. With this difference we have highlighted the key weakness of the reusable item; it NEEDS to be reused many many times for it to even break even with the carbon footprint created by the disposable item.
Another key argument would be the recycling potential of these items. Because disposable items can be made of a minimum of materials, they are very easy to recycle and reuse (albeit not as food related items). A reusable container may seem like a sound environmental idea, but it turns out that when it becomes broken or discarded, it is not so easy to recycle afterall.
This is merely an introduction to the themes i intend to discuss in greater depth in this blog, hopefully opening peoples eyes to the media manipulation that is rife with so many companies these days. It turns out the whole topic is more about public appearance than actually saving the planet. Something of an inconvenient truth..?
It is all very well suggesting that anything disposable is bad for the environment, but is the situation so black and white? Actually no, it is not. There are many additional factors that would impact this argument, such as the state of the county's recycling policy and manufacturing processes, however the simple truth is that actually a disposable item can be more "green" than a reusable one? How so? Let me explain. A disposable item is very cheap to produce, and requires a minimum of materials to make, it is manufactured en mass and designed for a single use. In contrast to this, let us think about a rigid tumbler designed to be reused many times. Far more energy goes into the production of these items and they draw far more natural resources and materials. With this difference we have highlighted the key weakness of the reusable item; it NEEDS to be reused many many times for it to even break even with the carbon footprint created by the disposable item.
Another key argument would be the recycling potential of these items. Because disposable items can be made of a minimum of materials, they are very easy to recycle and reuse (albeit not as food related items). A reusable container may seem like a sound environmental idea, but it turns out that when it becomes broken or discarded, it is not so easy to recycle afterall.
This is merely an introduction to the themes i intend to discuss in greater depth in this blog, hopefully opening peoples eyes to the media manipulation that is rife with so many companies these days. It turns out the whole topic is more about public appearance than actually saving the planet. Something of an inconvenient truth..?
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