Which is greener, using paper plates, or washing dishes 3 times daily?

I have a family of four, and we have 3 meals daily at home. My husband and I are debating which method is ';greener';. I believe that it's better for the environment AND cheaper to just use real dishes and wash them after using. My husband thinks that the power needed to heat water for dishwashing is equally as bad for the environment as using paper plates. Which is greener? Using paper plates 3x daily, or washing dishes in hot water 3x daily? Which is more economical?Which is greener, using paper plates, or washing dishes 3 times daily?
I think using real plates and washing them...just don't be wasteful when you're washing, like leaving the water on the whole time. I mean, the power it takes to actually make the plates and ship them to the stores, not to mention the trees that were cut down, seems like it would make a bigger environmental impact than washing dishes in hot water.Which is greener, using paper plates, or washing dishes 3 times daily?
Washing dishes. Running lots of water does not hurt the Earth.





Ask your husband where we are going to put all of these paper plates. I think he is just using this argument because he hates washing dishes. ;) Washing dishes by hand with hot wather does not hurt the Earth that much. It is much, much more wasteful to throw bags of paper plates into landfills every week. Not to mention, you cannot do half as many things with a paper plate as you can with a ceramic bowl, such as hold jello or soup. ;)





In addition to that, the hot water problem can easily be fixed by switching to solar power or wind power to eat our water. This is actually what we used to do before we had electricity. We used to heat a huge pot of it over a fire in the fireplace and then fill a washtub pot by pot. ;)



You have two queries - 1. Which is green?


2. Which is economical?





Analyse one by one. Using real dishes - Usage of hot water reduce the quantity of water required to clean and is hygenic. Water temp need to be around 55 -60 deg C to ease out the grease due to fat/cheese/oil etc. On an average, it is considered, you require about 4 liters of hot water and an equal quantity of cold water for washing your dish (4 nos.) after every meal. Avg electrical energy required to heat 100 ltr of water from 18 deg to 60 deg C is between 5 to 6 kWh. Now you know how much is your approximate energy cost.


Reg. paper plates - most paper plates have a thin polymer lining to avoid wetting. Recycling is possible but again energy consuming. As you are aware, paper is made mainly from cellulose which mean cutting of bamboos and pines. How long we can afford to cut since we plant a few.


Your Judgement Now!
washing plates diffidently! just because they say paper doesn't always mean you can recycle them. most brands put a thick wax covering on top to make sure grease and what not does not leak through, which makes it not able to be recycle. you would be much better off with washing a few plates in a container that can fit in the sink while filling it with hot water and a little soap.
Use a good, energy-efficient dishwasher. Scrape, but don't pre-wash. Run only full loads (so you may need more dishes!) at off-peak hours, if possible. Set washer to air-dry, or the least-heat setting. The paper-making process uses LOTS of water, so right away you're greener; then consider the energy needed to manufacture the paper, and the expense of disposal in a landfill--my vote has to go to the dishwasher.
Since you use a lot of dishes i would guess the dishwasher would be better, IF you get a high efficiency one, don't rinse your dishes before you put them in run a normal/light wash use safe soap and don't turn on the heated dry. I can't believe you wash that many dishes by hand your poor hands!! :)





p.s. make sure you cram as much in as you can
Well it would depend on if u was washing by hand or dishwasher because a dishwasher uses less water. But it would have to be washing 3 times daily unless you eat sandwiches or something you don'tt have to use pots and pans for because you will still need to wash the pots and pans so mayas well wash the plates at the same time!
I would say paper plates is worse for the economy. The total amount of plates adds up to 12 a day, which is a lot of plates to be throwing away. Instead of washing dishes 3 times a day, why don't you wait until the end of the day and wash them all together?
I would say washing plates. You can use paper plates because they decompose quickly but then they can only be used once so that is a lot of paper plates after while and a lot a trash. Not to mention paper comes from trees.
I watched from Oprah that the making of any paper products uses much electricity and causes more emissions that pollute the air, and recycling adds to that as well. So using real dishes is greener :)
Although the plates would decompose they would do so in land fill. The problem with this is that it produces Methane which is a 21 times worse than carbon dioxide as a 'green house' gas.
PAPER PlaTES!!! Save water =)


Recycle the paper. No nasty dirty dishes sitting in your sink screaming to be washed!
if u measure it thoroughly,using paper plates were better either or washing were better
Using plates(glass or plastic) and washing them daily. Paper would just add to more litter and waste
i have no idea, but at a guess i would say washing the dishes is greener... actually im pritty sure it is
good question i think i would have to go with washing dishes three times a day.
if you do all the dishes at the end of the day, i think that would be greenest.
I think it doesn't matter.I would use paper plates. Because they're convenient. But they could be expensive from time to time. Regular plates could also be a hassle because you would have to pay for the running water and actually wash it your self. To make life easier, make a decision.If you choose regular plates, buy or if you already have one, use a dishwasher. That's what my mom does.And at the same time, we use paper plates sometimes when we don't feel like cleaning. So have fun deciding!! Good luck with everything else.
it entirely depends on where you live. In places where the is a water shortage, then paper is the better option. If water is more prevalent, then washing is the way to go.





Typically the plates will be worse because with the food on them they cannot be recycled. But water conservation can be really important in some areas - so check that out. Also you may want to check out how ';green'; your city is, in the terms of how well they recycle and the situation of it's landfills. (you should be able to contact your city/town government for this information)





When you wash, try to use ';green'; soap and use luke warm to cold water. If you're washing them immediately it's not really necessary to use hot. If you wait to do all the dishes for the day until night - then I would use hotter water to ensure sanitation. (also if you have anything really dirty, like something that had raw chicken on it - go ahead and use the really hot water). Whenever you can, don't have the water running. You can do this by filling up the sink part way with soapy water, washing the dishes and storing them in a drying rack, and then when you're all done, gently rinsing all the dished at one time, instead of rinsing each dish separately.





Also, I'm not sure of your monetary situation, but if you can afford it get an energy saver dishwasher. Those can be run every two days, which saves on water, heat and your hands :-)
ofcourse the greenest thing would be to use regular plates and washing them 3times daily (in cold water coz cold water breaks fats much better than hot water)