Biodegradeable has zero legal meaning. DDT and most types of nuclear waste are biodegradeable too. Compostable at least means it will turn into harmless chemicals (H20, O2 and hydrogen peroxide) within 100 days. Worse, it does nothing to address the resources depleted to make the product. This isn't rocket science. Use real dishware.

I do like creative table settings though, don't get me wrong. It is pretty but just not eco friendly.

Here in Toronto, we have a city-wide compostables collection, alongside our recyclables and garbage collection; the parchment paper, shrimp shells and squeezed-out limes would all go into the compost (known here as the "green bin") and in the spring, we can go to the local parks (or other designated pickup points) and bring containers to collect fabulous compost for our gardens. So I have no problem with using parchment paper for serving a shrimp boil ... great idea that I'll probably use later this summer!

So, I don't usually engage on this topic, but hey, why not, today! I just want to say that I do find assumptions in this space a little difficult, intellectually-speaking. I want to see a side-by-side study of a) how dishware is made b) how soap is made c) how much energy, water, and sewer impact comes from washing a set of dinner dishes. Then compare that data rigorously to that of a) making paper b) composting it or recycling it.

I am NOT making an argument that one or the other is more eco-friendly at all. My point is just that there are lots of assumptions in all of our statements about what's better for the earth, and until you look at an entire ecosystem and production flow, it's hard for me to make dramatic statements one way or the other.

Who knows - maybe someone will do a study showing that it would be more ecofriendly to eat off of recyclable bamboo dishes for every meal and throw them away in the compost pile than to buy dishes made of painted porcelain that have to be washed with hot water. I'm not saying that's the case (and I doubt it) but this whole line of thinking is one of my bugaboos (obviously).

There are just some really non-intuitive aspects of living lighter - like, for instance, how a dishwasher is much more efficient than washing dishes by hand. (But that does not of course allow for the resource cost of producing a dishwasher.)

We shouldn't have included the word "ecofriendly" in this post at all, but I also want to point out that the whole space is pretty hard to make sweeping statements about without lots more data and better definitions.

@Faith, thanks for the response. Please don't think my "tone of voice" is sanctimonious. I consider my comments to be about sharing information that we may have. Unless you're having 20 people at your entertainment table, you should be able to slide those flat dishes right into the dishwasher that you would run anyway for your weekly wash. No study needed, you're just filling up the dishwasher even fuller than you normally would have thus wasting less water, soap and energy. However I REALLY applaud the ideas of posting studies-evidence of what we're saying. I shall find some and post them, both for and against my statement. :)

Not weekly, sorry. I admit we run the dishwasher much more often than that, LOL

@Emmi oh no! Not at all. I hope I didn't come back and sound crabby at all either! I just think it's SUCH an interesting topic and I totally appreciated you opening it up!

I just think overall there are tons of opinions on this topic, and I'd really love to see more large-scale study and science on what is effective and truly helpful long-term. I'm sure those studies are difficult to do, but I hope people look to data more and more in their process of making good decisions.

And yes to dishwasher point - that's great!

Thanks, @Faith this blog is my favorite for green and home growing plus teaching myself how to cook, so I'm grateful for the community and our exchange of ideas. Maybe someday soon the rainwater barrel idea will get going to save more water!

If you're having a big casual party, it's probably not about this idea vs. real dinnerware, it's this idea vs. paper plates and plastic silverware. (At least for me it would be because I don't have enough real plates for entertaining a large group.) So yeah, I'd probably give it a try.

"life-cycle analysis" and "sustainability" are words that were beginning to get thrown around while i was in college studying to be a civil engineer. my hippie water treatment teacher spent 2 weeks on the traditional water treatment system and the rest of the semester on alternative methods of water conservation, use, and treatment. i thought the class was a joke then, but the more i read up on the processes used for water treatment (drinking water AND waste water) and the creative alternative methods, i think she was REALLY on to something.

faith and emmi are right, you must study the ENTIRE system, not just the product you buy and how you dispose of it. that's just a tiny part of how that product affects our precious earth.

thanks emmi for brinking up the topic!

cheers.

It makes me think of England where fish and chips used to be wrapped in old newspaper. It was a perfect insulation while you took your meal home and a great example of recycling. There would be a small sheet of greaseproof paper in between the newsprint and the fish and chips so it was perfectly sanitary. People would take their old newspapers to the chippy to be recycled as packaging.

Then, the fish and chip newspaper wrappers would go into the coal bucket (yes, I'm going back a long way) and used to light the fire the next morning. So a newspaper was something to read, packaging and insulation, and fuel.

Now we have Styrofoam containers. Progress. As for the idea above, I have plates, I have dish soap. I don't have parchment paper, so no.

@Faith: even if you go the parchment route, you probably would still have porcelain plates, right? So you shouldn't count the energy ect. needed to make the porcelain plates since they will be there anyway, no matter if you it a few casual meals of parchment paper or not. So the only thing you should consider is the hot water/soap for washing dishes vs. the parchment paper. I doubt that the parchment paper would win.

@ fulinlin: you took the words right out of my mouth....

Going on the assumption that the dishes are purchased (new or second hand), the environmental impact of the dishes purchase is a sunk environmental cost and can therefore be left out of the equation.

I don't use hot water to wash my dishes, personally, but even including hot water and soap I think it's pretty easy to do a high-level analysis and see that re-usable dishes win over tossable parchment paper (recyclable or not). We're talking giant pieces of machinery, run on diesel, ripping out trees, transporting said trees, processing said trees, etc etc etc. Most production and processing plants use an insane amount of water just for that step, never mind the diesel for logging and transport, potential ground water and ecosystem impacts from tearing out the trees, and a host of other large scale impacts.

I agree with bringing up the topic for discussion, don't get me wrong! I just think the "IS it really worse?" question is a hard sell on this particular topic.

I know I reacted strongly to this one as I often (at least 1-2x/month) find "eco friendly" claims on AT to be anything but eco friendly. I'm by no means perfect though so probably better for me to worry about my own practices than those of others. :P

While we're on the topic, I would actually like to see a reliable study of the environmental impact of dishwashing vs handwashing. One that includes the resources used to manufacture and run the dishwasher (electricity, etc).

Oops, meant to say 'a dishwasher vs handwashing'.

@Charlie26 So would I! I'm pretty sure that handwashing would win the day though. As you say, there's the manufacturing cost and resources to start with. Then the transportation and packaging. They are usually packed in cardboard boxes with styrofoam at the corners then often encased in plastic. Instruction leaflets and guarantee cards have to be printed (and usually put into plastic bags). Then, because there are many different makes and models, they have to be advertised. There is point-of-sale material such as brochures and stickers on the machine itself.

If I were to get a dishwasher, there'd be the financial outlay. Then the installation costs. There'd probably be a delivery which would involve more fuel and expense.Then I'd have to buy more dishes because with only two people in the household, we wouldn't have to run it every day. (Which I don't like - the thought of dirty pots sitting around for days).

Both need warm water. Both need detergent. But dishwashers seem to always be demanding rinse aids and other chemicals, also specialist detergents. I can use dish soap for many other purposes but not those tablet things that go into dishwashers. I'm sure that it's possible to make your own but that's more time spent.

Dishwashers seem to be more labour intensive too - hand washing dishes doesn't take longer than properly loading a dishwasher. Dishwashers need cleaning, the filters need to be dealt with. If they break down, that's even more expense.

Then, if a child (or husband in my case) has loaded the dishwasher badly, there are still bits of gunge on the 'clean' plates but by now they have been baked on.

Sorry for the rant!

That's very wasteful.