The manufacturing trade-off

You're sipping your hot Fair Trade Organic Java from your favorite mug reading this article - confident that all the choices you made in response to climate change are correct. Meaning you never ever use styrofoam or disposable anything, wash clothes in cold water, and you just bought your electric vehicle...

Before you feel nice and safe that you've "covered all bases" in that you're doing your part to make a difference, let's step back a bit and look at the mug you're holding - yes, that's right - the mug. "But you told us to use a mug here!" - you say in shock as we raise awareness of your choice... That's true and we're still sticking to it - but there's more to the story than just that - here's what we mean:

How much energy does it take to make that mug compared to say a styrofoam or paper disposable cup? How much energy does it require (over the course of its lifetime) to wash and clean that mug? Add perhaps the transportation costs (larger and heavier than a paper cup), storage surcharge (most likely an air-conditioned/heated shop), and last but not least any designs or graphics that may have incrimentally contributed to its carbon footprint. Not such a "light" mug now, is it? We hope we didn't ruin your coffee-experience. Keep reading, though - there's a happy ending.

We found several such studies where some of these questions were asked about the very mug in question. One was done by the ILEA (Institute of Lifecycle Energy Analysis) , where they compared ceramic, plastic, and glass reusable mugs to paper and syrofoam. Being that styrofoam requires much less energy to manufacture than a ceramic mug, it's obvious that it would require several uses of the ceramic mug to equal that of a single-use styrofoam cup - but how many uses? Apparently 1006 times before they're equal. For plastic it's 450 and glass 393 - ouch!

Paper cups appear to be more labor intensive to manufacture so the break-even point is much more comfortable. 39 for ceramic, 17 for plastic, and 15 for glass. So using your mug 39 times would be the same (energy-wise) than if you used the paper cup once.

Another study was performed by The Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (pdf) where it was concluded that disposable cups generally posed a lesser impact on the environment than a manufactured porcelain or earthenware mug. Again, it was based on the amount of uses that the mug would have to be used in order to equate that of the disposable-type. This study, however, was making assumptions such as recycling of the disposable or incinerating it for energy use - when we know most end up in a landfill after 5 minutes of use. Also, it pointed to people making multiple use of the disposable cup - clearly not a reality in a fast-paced "disposable"-world. Also, many paper cups have a plastic or wax-lining to make it water-proof (not in either of the studies yet adds greatly to its manufacturing impact) So let's just use their eco-impact of material - not conclusion.

In both studies, they referred to the users-preference as to the final impact the mug has on the environment. How dedicated are you in making sure you use that one mug to its full lifetime capacity? How dedicated are you be part of a community of long-term thinking in face of instant gratification surroundings? Think of it this way, how many cups does the average Stabucks go through per day serving its regular cutomers? We didn't find a typical figure (email us if you have it!) so let's say 1000 paper cups with 1000 plastic lids and 1000 koozies (that cardboard hand-protector liner-thing). Multiply by 5 for a nice work-week (let's omit weekends for now), nobody of the 1000 will recycle any of that - and you have 15,000 pieces of drinking items from one store per week from regular customers that end up in the land-fill. Multiply this by 50 weeks for the year and you have 750,000 pieces of trash for the year - from one community of coffee drinkers. This is the community we're talking about - what would happen if this community were to bring their own mugs? This is where the change happens! You can do some more easy division-math yourself to see how fast this community of coffee-drinkers offsets the manufacturing trade-off. Dramatic - isn't it!?

Conclusion - yes there is one: Whether mugs or clothing or vehicles, the life-cycle and usefulness ultimately depends on your ability to view it with a long-term goal in mind. Great lengths have been taken to manufacture that something so it's imperative we take care of it and us it to the best of its ability and recycle or donate for others to use when possible. We save money, we save resources, we eliminate waste, and extend the earth's life that much more. See, we told you it has a happy ending!

Another great search-link for a multitude of Life Cycle Assessments from paper/plastic bags to electric-vehicle batteries:
Product Ecology Consultants