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They are still a huge waste, even if they are biodegradable.

chrisco255 7y ago
Biodegradable materials get reabsorbed by the environment by definition. They're also recycleable. For instance, cardboard breaks down within two months.
- kristopolous 7y ago
  And how were they sourced? How were they manufactured? How did they get to the point of consumption? How were they packaged when they arrived? How do they get to the garbage site? You have to include all the steps of how it got from tree to your hand and your hand back into the Earth. There's still plenty of pollution in that process even if the object itself isn't part of it.
  - gedy 7y ago
    > And how were they sourced? How were they manufactured? How did they get to the point of consumption? Like it's better from reusable cups? Basically will likely be ceramic, plastic, and metal from China, hauled across the ocean in some hugely polluting ship. No thanks.
    - kristopolous 7y ago
      zero is currently unachievable, fine. But something that reduces the footprint by 99% shouldn't be discarded because it's 1% away from perfection. I have a zojirushi mug that lasts about 2-3 years. I use it daily and keep it in my bag. It's been in 8 countries this year alone. It probably saves about 600 or so cups so even if it is 10 times more energy to build the canister I have it's still 98% less aggregate energy. A reduction of 2 orders of magnitude is quite substantial. The gains here from simply using a reusable cup are equivalent to say, getting a car that got 3000 mpg but had some minor inconvenience such as needing 3 minutes to warm up when you turned it on.
  - chrisco255 7y ago
    From mix of recycled and new trees. Trees which are farmed in the U.S. and sustainably managed. And trees which, by the way, absorb carbon.
    - kristopolous 7y ago
      The vehicles to get there and transport them and equipment to cut them used petroleum. The machines to manufacture the units from the tree parts used fossil fuels, there was waste in the production that's nonrenewable. The whole process, as in the whole entire complete every step of the way process has to be looked at

Biodegradable materials get reabsorbed by the environment by definition. They're also recycleable. For instance, cardboard breaks down within two months.

kristopolous 7y ago
And how were they sourced? How were they manufactured? How did they get to the point of consumption? How were they packaged when they arrived? How do they get to the garbage site? You have to include all the steps of how it got from tree to your hand and your hand back into the Earth. There's still plenty of pollution in that process even if the object itself isn't part of it.
- gedy 7y ago
  > And how were they sourced? How were they manufactured? How did they get to the point of consumption? Like it's better from reusable cups? Basically will likely be ceramic, plastic, and metal from China, hauled across the ocean in some hugely polluting ship. No thanks.
  - kristopolous 7y ago
    zero is currently unachievable, fine. But something that reduces the footprint by 99% shouldn't be discarded because it's 1% away from perfection. I have a zojirushi mug that lasts about 2-3 years. I use it daily and keep it in my bag. It's been in 8 countries this year alone. It probably saves about 600 or so cups so even if it is 10 times more energy to build the canister I have it's still 98% less aggregate energy. A reduction of 2 orders of magnitude is quite substantial. The gains here from simply using a reusable cup are equivalent to say, getting a car that got 3000 mpg but had some minor inconvenience such as needing 3 minutes to warm up when you turned it on.
- chrisco255 7y ago
  From mix of recycled and new trees. Trees which are farmed in the U.S. and sustainably managed. And trees which, by the way, absorb carbon.
  - kristopolous 7y ago
    The vehicles to get there and transport them and equipment to cut them used petroleum. The machines to manufacture the units from the tree parts used fossil fuels, there was waste in the production that's nonrenewable. The whole process, as in the whole entire complete every step of the way process has to be looked at