Paper Plates, too lazy to do dishes?

[Moltres Rider]

I haven't posted a debate yet so...

are people/families that use paper plates too lazy to do dishes? I am not talking about using them once because you have a ton of guests over, I mean persons or family who use them every day for virtually every meal. are those individuals too lazy to do dishes? or is it something more?

 

[Kanzler]

Hmm, that's an interesting question. People tend to be more consumerist nowadays, with everything being cheap and disposable. It's not just dishes, it's everything really, and it contributes to more buy-buy-buy attitude as well as more waste. On the other hand, it is to our convenience, and who really has the time to do chores? I definitely think there's more to it than a lazy personality though, since the state of our economy and culture really helps perpetuate this behaviour, we have access to all this convenience at a societal level. Whether that's a good or bad thing I'm not too sure and I'm not particularly judgmental on that, though I'm interested in what other people have to say :P

 

[Melody]

In the end you're really not evading the chore if you're buying disposable dishes. You're just choosing to pay money for dishes that you can toss when you're done using them. In the end you still have to do the work. But if you choose to pay money to avoid doing the dishes you (hopefully) are doing so to free up time needed to work to buy the luxury of not having to do the dishes.

 

[Guy]

Not only is it lazy, it's a huge waste of money and natural resources. Plus in many cases paper plates can't be recycled or they will emit toxic chemicals into the earth's soil and water supply. Using them once in a while for big parties and dinners is okay, I get that, but to use them on a daily basis? No one wins. There's a lot more pros to using reusable dishes and utensils, not just for the environment but for the user as well. The biggest flaw I see with reusable dishes is the use of water, but then when you weigh both sides, you see that using paper / plastic plates does more harm than good even in terms of our water supply.

 

[Esper]

I was raised to recycle, reduce, reuse so paper plates always feel wasteful to me. Of course, I also live without a dishwasher and my kitchen sink is tiny and hard to clean anything in so I understand not wanting to do dishes all the time. So, no, I don't think people are lazy to use disposable dishware, but I think it's still wasteful.

But if you choose to pay money to avoid doing the dishes you (hopefully) are doing so to free up time needed to work to buy the luxury of not having to do the dishes.

I kind of get the feeling that what time you save on not doing dishes isn't going to compensate for the cost of the plates. I mean, they're cheap, but you still have to go to the store to get them and that takes money, too.

 

[Kanzler]

Then again, if you're self-employed every hour you're not working is time not being used properly eh? So if you grab a pack of paper plates every month or two then that extra $2 or $3 can very well be recouped in less than a week of work - if you're worth $20 an hour, you only need to work 10 more minutes (~$3) for the purchase to be worth it.

Hmmm. Let's say you're living by yourself, so you only do the dishes at the end of every day. If it takes 2 minutes to wash the dishes one day, it'll take one hour over the course of a month. Sounds like $17 worth of profit to me :P Do that over a year and it's $200 worth of extra productivity, plus all the money you'll save on dishwashing fluid, add on another $20-30 perhaps (6 x $3-5 bottles every 2 months)?

 

[Plumpyfoof]

I think it's a convenience thing. I buy paper plates because I get a pack of 200 or so for like $8 whereas one ceramic plate is like $15 - $20. I don't always have that kind of money.

 

[Pinkie-Dawn]

I despise washing the dishes, because I can't stand looking at how disgusting leftover food looks like, especially Mexican food, that I really don't want to feel like throwing from looking at them. But after what Artemis mentioned, paper plates are harmful to the environment, so there's no way out for me if I want to be independent.

 

[Krazzikk]

I think it's a convenience thing. I buy paper plates because I get a pack of 200 or so for like $8 whereas one ceramic plate is like $15 - $20. I don't always have that kind of money.

Yes I think a lot of people buy paper plates for the cost effiencency. Although in the long run, regular glass or ceramic plates are cheaper some people just can't afford it. My uncle has been in and out of jail (other people being compelled to pay the bail) and is very poor. He and his wife buy paper plates, but they actually wash them 4 or 5 times before throwing them away. So it shows that people aren't just worried about the convince, it's sometimes more about the cost. It all depends on your situation.

 

[Kanzler]

Especially for people who don't like washing dishes, it'll save more time than the 2 minutes used explicitly for washing them - you waste time as you procrastinate/build up motivation. When I move out, it could be a lifestyle change that streamlines my daily routine.

 

[Esper]

It occurs to me if you're using more paper plates you're going to have your garbage fill up quicker which means taking the trash out more often and also having to buy more trash bags. More time and money there.

 

[Rezilia]

Time is money. The time it takes you to wash dishes would be better suited for doing anything else. It's not like you can throw away your house when it gets dirty - but you CAN throw away your plate.

 

[Kanzler]

It occurs to me if you're using more paper plates you're going to have your garbage fill up quicker which means taking the trash out more often and also having to buy more trash bags. More time and money there.

But paper plates are decently compressible/collapsible. If 200 plates can be bought for a couple of dollars and come in a handy lil bag, then it can hardly add any more volume or mass to the trash eh?

 

[Lalapizzame]

Buying paper plates can be somewhat expensive. Apparently they can be microwaved, so it's just a matter of money. But because I'm lazy as all get out I'll just use paper plates.

If I had paper plates I'd keep a set of porcelain plates. Porcelain for fancy occasions (like when parents eat), paper plate for me.

 

[voltianqueen]

lol

Let's put it this way. If my family did not use paper plates, we'd have to do dishes around the clock. I already have enough dishes to do WITH paper plates. I don't even want to think about what it'd be like if we used regular plates!

 

[TwilightBlade]

Paper plates, cups, bowls, and the like are aplenty here. I have enough dirty dishes when we cook. I'm trying to imagine a life where I forgo paper plates, but idk, we'd have to do dishes twice a day then.

I prefer the serving size on the paper plates rather than using dinner plates. I've seen my twin brother put a paper plate on top of a dinner plate as otherwise he piles too much food on his plate and takes all the food smh.

 

[Rezilia]

When you use paper plates, you tend to have a choice:

Recycle

Trash

If society tends to recycle at a great amount, the items that go in the trash become ignored by society. On the other hand, a society that tends to trash can have Recycling as a job - where workers go to dumps and pick out recyclable material, since there's a large amount of it. I believe this is popular in Rio...

So, paper plates have the ability to help create jobs, in a certain setting. :D

 

[Palkia]

I can see paper plates only being useful in a party situation where washing and maintaining lots of plates is too time consuming. Anything else and reusable plates are fine for washing and reusing with hot water and washing liquid.