Why Dont People Always Use Plastic Dishes?

[Eli]

You know... the ones that are used only once.

We have a dishwasher, but we dont use it on a daily basis since there arent enough dishes to wash.
So my father(and sometimes mother) spend quite a while every day on washing stuff.
(both me and my sister are lazy bastards )

Why? What's the problem with buying a bunch of plastic one-use dishes once a week and just throwing them all to the garbage when you're done? Why wasting hours on washing them?

The only problem I can see it that it will bring a lot of trash... Someone should invent a recyclable material for dishes.

 

[Dralix]

Not just environmentally unfriendly, but walletally unfriendly also. Plus, some people would rather eat like adults and use real dishes instead of using picnicware all the time.

EDIT: for grammar (only the non-made up words)

 

[SirJethro]

Not a good idea unless you want to build houses out of used plasticware....

 

[Simon Darkshade]

Get the servants to wash the dishes; a dishwasher is cheating.

 

[andrewgprv]

expensive and not kind to the environment

enough said

 

[Eli]

It's not that expensive if you consider all the time freed. Just imagine you live in a large family with no dishwasher.

Yes, the enviroment argument is a major problem. How about eatable dishes?

 

[thestonesfan]

I feel bad using paper plates, and those biodegrade in a week or two.

Plastic utensils promote extreme laziness. That stuff is fine for picnics, but why fill up landfills and use up resources when it takes about five seconds to wash a glass plate? Especially when you have kids to do it?

Convenience turns us into wasteful lazy slobs. It's a bad trend.

 

[Fier Canadien]

Already exists. I found some Porto glasses made of chocolate some time ago. The only problem is that I ate them all and got a little bit drunk…

 

[Dralix]

Originally posted by Eli
It's not that expensive if you consider all the time freed. Just imagine you live in a large family with no dishwasher.

This argument is only valid if the time spent on washing dishes would otherwise be spent earning money. I doubt that is the case in the majority of households. Even if if it were the case, I still question the economics of it.

 

[Gastric ReFlux]

Why use plates when I have my hands?

 

[Dralix]

Originally posted by Fier Canadien
Already exists. I found some Porto glasses made of chocolate some time ago. The only problem is that I ate them all and got a little bit drunk…

Did you put vodka in them before you ate them?

 

[Perfection]

Who says you need plates anyways, just eat off a table in your yard and hose it down when your done.

 

[Speaker]

How long does it really take to wash dishes by hand? 10 minutes? 15 minutes? Doesn't seem like a big deal to me.

 

[Perfection]

But doing that for 3 times a day every day for 70 years cuts out more than 2 whole years of your life!

 

[Speaker]

More like 1.25 years. That is of course assuming that you wash dishes after breakfast and after lunch, instead of just putting your cereal bowl in the sink to save until after dinner and throwing away the wrapper to your sandwich after lunch. That should cut it down to around 125 days or so. Using a dishwasher for several years and/or alternating with your spouse further cuts down that time, as does the years spent in childhood and old age when you probably are not doing dishes either, further taking off around 50 days. So maybe you cut out 75 days of your life washing dishes. That's not so bad, all things considered.

 

[Pongui]

Some people enjoy washing dishes.

 

[Perfection]

75 days? Yeah right that's only 4.22 minutes a day! Were talking at least 178 days

 

[Speaker]

Ok, call it 30 minutes a day. But if you only do dishes once a day, it is now 10 minutes a day. If you don't do dishes half the days of your life because you use a dishwasher for several years and alternate washing days with your spouse and don't do them when you are young and old, then it averages to 5 minutes a day.

 

[Gothmog]

Interestingly if you do a life cycle analysis of the environmental benefit it is mostly a wash (heh). The studies I have seen (in the journal Environmental Science and Technology) indicate that one would have to reuse a typical plate over 300 times just to reach the break even point. The reason for this is that it takes alot of energy and materials to make a glass or ceramic plate and it produces significant waste alot of which is toxic. It takes much less input/output to make a typical disposable one. Also it takes energy to make potable and transport water to your house and then heat it for washing.

Other factors: If you wash by hand it is typically even more wasteful than an automatic washer in terms of water use. Additionally if you use disposable plates that are made from recycled materials you cut down on your impact on a land fill.

The same logic can be applied to the paper/plastic question at the grocery store and to using mugs or disposable cups for coffee at work. Things are rarely as simple as they may at first appear. That's why the mantra of the environmental three R's is: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

 

[Dralix]

Originally posted by Gothmog
Interestingly if you do a life cycle analysis of the environmental benefit it is mostly a wash (heh). The studies I have seen (in the journal Environmental Science and Technology) indicate that one would have to reuse a typical plate over 300 times just to reach the break even point.

I don't think that is unreasonable service to expect of your dishes. My wife and I have service for 12. Assuming we each use one dinner plate per day (and equal distribution ) that's just under 5 years. I expect our dishes to last much longer than that.