I agree - the up front carbon cost of a paper plate is certainly greater than the return from putting it back into the environment no matter how sensitively the return to planet earth is done.
Some of us might have very fixed ideas on efficiency while others a broader view that centres around sustainability. I favour a broader view in any comparison testing. Some of us can choose to neglect certain measures, however it is not so easy if something you need to consider is left out.
We are fortunate that Choice’s testing criteria are technically comprehensive. I’ll be watching with interest how Choice’s wonderful test staff respond to sustainability. These staff have shown they can provide useful advice and assessment of more subjective issues such as accessibility, controls etc.
The question on dish washing shows there is diversity of views and many measures that may be important. There are differences in environmental impacts of our decisions. Without judging one solution and method to be absolute it demonstrates to me that Choice has an opportunity to stretch it’s comparison testing to help us all decide what is best for our individual circumstances.
In respect of washing things in general it would be great to have a relative comparison of the impact of water usage vs energy/electricity usage. Eg front loading clothes washers use less water but take longer to wash and may use more energy compared to a top loader. My gran did all her washing by hand. The hot water came from a wood fired copper!
More than one of our Choice friends hand washes most of their dishes. There is therefore an argument that to hand wash and line dry all our clothes, sheets etc is more efficient than using a washing machine and heated drier.
Is Brendan Mays playing with our minds here when this topic was kicked off?
