Composting in lieu of dishwashing

Alisha_A

I posted this jokingly on my Facebook status but... it got me wondering.

Would it be ridiculous to start using recycled (truly) compostable paperware at home instead of washing dishes?

I've always been against throwing things away. But is using my water heater, water and thus energy in the whole water system actually better than just composting stuff?

annabelle.27

The water and energy that goes into making those plates and transporting them to store is probably much greater than the water and energy used to wash dishes.

SuperGreen

annabelle.27:

The water and energy that goes into making those plates and transporting them to store is probably much greater than the water and energy used to wash dishes.

I definetely agree with this.  DH and I use tons of plates and bowls in food prep beyond the ones we're actually eating dinner off of.  I doubt they make compostable plates and bowls in all the different sizes we would need, so then we'd be handwashing our prep dishes which uses more water than the dishwasher does.  A couple or family's home composter wouldn't be able to handle all those browns either, and the plates would have meat pieces or juice on them, both are composting no-no's.

Alisha_A

*sigh*

Lame.

I don't cook though, so there aren't dishes from prepwork, etc. and we can compost meats. My intent was to put these in city compost.

sillygoosegirl

annabelle.27:

The water and energy that goes into making those plates and transporting them to store is probably much greater than the water and energy used to wash dishes.

This.  And even if it wasn't true, do you really want to eat off paper plates all the time?  Personally, I don't care for eating off of dissolving pieces of paper.

However, when I was in India, I saw street vendors selling food in disposable bowls made from stapled together giant leafs. 

CDMay2006

You'd still have to use and presumably wash utensils...

MessyM

I LOVE the idea of never washing a dish again!!!

But.. something made that dish whether it was new or reused. You have to decide for yourself. If you really want to help out the environment, you don't even need to purchase the recycled stuff, go to a goodwill,yard sale, etc, and find dishes that already are in existence, Then you help stop production and consumer want of a lot of products that drain our resources.  I love the new bio-degradable stuff, its' great for restaurants and grocery stores that cant reuse most of their containers. But you can. I know I am so uber dork sounding, but all I do everyday is research about this!   A great tip is most dishwashers..(fully loaded!) save us more energy and water than us hand washing our dishes!!! Also, sadly,  a lot of great products that are bio friendly and such take a lot of energy and or water to produce, so if you found something you could reuse alot, over and over again, how is that not economical and earth friendly?! If you can find dishes you love, than reuse them!!! Why buy something that ,even though is biodegradable,  is not a necessity for most common situations?  If you can find dishes you like it is better to re-use them and save your biodegradable ones for large parties! As far as wasting water, stop buying bottled water immediately!! If there is ever something I know, bottled water is the death of our natural water resources, There is no regulation mandated by the USDA for bottling companies, you may look this up, and worst is they make money off of bottling water that tax payers have already paid for, they use municipal water resources! And to make a bad thing even worse, in our country and all around the world they use up more water to produce bottled water than the amount that they ship!!!!

litt1er4

annabelle.27:

The water and energy that goes into making those plates and transporting them to store is probably much greater than the water and energy used to wash dishes.

well said!