Glass vs. Styrofoam at the church potluck

We are often asked about the environmental effects of using Styrofoam instead of reusable utensils at church or other functions. Here's what we came up with, based on the example of the humble coffee cup.

Many congregations have a supply of glassware on hand, yet often use disposable Styrofoam products for meals or other special events where food or drink is involved. The reasons may be several, including sanitation (health department rules concerning washing reusable items), environmental cost (thinking throw-away items use fewer resources than washing reusables), economic cost (the perception that it may be less expensive to use throw-away products than to wash reusables), time savings (no need to wash items), division of labor (if certain people are always the ones doing the dish-washing), words and deeds (which speaks louder?).

While the choice of glass vs. Styrofoam is not as important environmentally as some other issues related to food consumption (see Eat, Drink, and Be Wary…? below), it is important for its environmental, economic, and symbolic value. Let's take the points above in order:

• Sanitation Cleanliness next to godliness? Church kitchen sanitation is an issue that merits attention. Certainly, washing utensils does require care not posed by pitching used items into the trash. However, sufficient cleanliness can be easily maintained by a simple process; for a description, we defer to El Dorado County, CA since California is typically ahead of the rest of us when it comes to health and safety regulations.

HOWEVER, while Styrofoam may seem “cleaner” at the point of use, read on:

• Environmental cost Out of sight… Making a Styrofoam cup requires energy and energy production creates CO2 and other greenhouse gases. Manufacturing a Styrofoam cup produces 1/5 pound CO2; washing a glass creates half this amount (Rowan University Study)

At 100 cups per meal, 12 meals per year, that's a CO2 savings of 120 pounds per year when using glass over Styrofoam.

In addition, as a petroleum product a simple Styrofoam cup is the end result of one of the dirtiest and most destructive processes on the planet. And there are the trips to the store to buy them: Burning a gallon of gas equals 36 kilowatts of energy—or the equivalent of the energy used to make 360 Styrofoam cups. Furthermore, we need a large plastic garbage bag, a petroleum product.

Plus, it takes about 500 years for Styrofoam to decompose in a landfill—a nice little legacy for the next 20 generations or so...

• Economic Cost Pay me now…and pay me later Styrofoam cups cost on average 1.5 cents per cup. The principle cost related to reusable cups is for heating the water to wash them. If using a fully-loaded dishwasher, that comes in at around .05 kilowatts per cup. At 7 cents or so per kilowatt, per cup cost would be .3 cents per wash.

At 12 carry-in meals per year, 100 cups per event, that would be a savings of $14.40 per year when choosing glass over Styrofoam.

That's the retail price of reusable vs. disposable. If we add in the costs of a) the time and gasoline spent shopping b) the cost of trash disposal c) the long-term costs of pollution and greenhouse gas emissions to the planet—well, the cost difference is even greater.

• Time savings Finally, a win for Styrofoam! Sort of… Styrofoam is the winner here, although we need also add in the time spent by someone shopping for the products and the time spent by the disposal company in hauling them away (ahhh, the kingdom of “away”—it's a place we US consumers love!). We should also add in the opportunities for fellowship lost at the sink when dishes are not washed.

The youth group at the Stevens Hill (PA) Church of the Brethren agreed to serve as dishwashers for congregational meals if the church would switch from disposables to reusables. What a deal!

• Division of Labor A woman's place… …is no longer in the kitchen, and most dish-washing in congregations is a shared responsibility. If that's not the way it is in your congregation, then that's another issue. (A good starting point could be a study of Rosemary Radford Reuther's Christianity and the Making of the Modern Family —reviewed on NCP's Reading List
• Words and deeds Which speaks louder? As Christians, we are as concerned for orthopraxis as orthodoxy—for how we live as much as what we believe. So the example set for the congregation, the wider community and especially for the children by using disposables is something that must be considered: What is the impact of Christian stewards freely throwing things away in a society where per capita municipal waste is 1800 pounds per year, and where providing the materials (metals, wood, minerals, etc.) for the US lifestyle requires 27 tractor trailer loads of materials per person per year?
• Don't already have glass cups (or plates)? Still better in the long run… It takes 5.5 MJ (megajoules) of energy to make a glass cup, .2 to make styrofoam—or about 25 times more energy for the glass product. Then it takes about .18 MJ per cup to wash each glass cup in an energy efficient dishwasher if running a full load. And of course, we just throw the styrofoam “away.” If this were all we were counting, it would take about 400 washings to recoup the extra manufacturing energy of making a glass cup (only 15 washings if using paper cups rather than styrofoam, as paper is much more energy intensive).
• Eat, Drink, and Be Wary…? In today's world, we've got more on our plates than cups… The choice between glass and Styrofoam is significant and symbolic. More important environmental considerations for the potluck crowd, however, are:
  • how many vegetarian options are offered (much less demanding on the environment)
  • how much local food was served (as opposed to food shipped cross-country)
  • whether the congregation's hot water heater is running full blast all through the week (huge energy consumer!)
  • how many people car-pooled, walked or biked to get there

It can require 4600 calories of energy to ship 80 calories (1 pound) of pre-washed organic lettuce across the country!

See our flyer Eat, Drink, and Be Wary…? for other food-related info. Check out NCP Table Tents for use at meal time as reminders of the many dimensions of food consumption.

Sources: Institute for Lifecycle Environmental Assessment; Environmental Science (G. Tyler Miller); Rowan University Study, 2003, The Omnivore's Dilemma (Pollan) For a concise summary of Pollan's book, click here.