Paper Versus Polystyrene: A Complex Choice

As today's public and governments become more environmentally conscious we are increasingly concerned about the environmental component of product and service options available in our affluent society. Our choices are often made instinctively, from necessity, since a detailed analysis of the relative environmental merits of using canned versus fresh versus frozen foods, or glass versus paper versus steel versus aluminum packaging would simply be too time consuming for each purchase. If, however, the environmental merit question is restricted to a small enough purchase sector it is possible to conduct a complete analysis of relative merit from the initial resource through the manufacturing stages, use attributes, and recycle options through to final use or disposal of the item. Many environmentally appropriate choices of products can only be made after such an analysis. An outline of one such analysis, that of paper versus polystyrene foam as the material of construction for hot drink containers in fast food or other single use applications, is given here.