On disposable dishes...or diapers.

Have any of you ever felt guilty using paper or plastic plates, plastic utensils, styrofoam cups and paper napkins? I always cringe a little when I am at a fast food restaurant and after eating I go and dump so much stuff into the waste containers. I am very happy that many places have implemented recycling and green bins, it makes throwing away all that stuff a little easier on my conscience. I have also eaten off of these disposable dishes at people's houses when they are having large gatherings. I even admit to buying some to use when I had 30 people coming to the twins birthday party. I try, if only having a smallish gathering, to use my real dishes. I use real dishes pretty much ever day of my life, even when I am working.

Now imagine someone telling you that they chose not to use real dishes. They preferred the ease of disposable ones. Yes it costs more money, but to them it is worth it. Yes we really have no idea what chemicals the plastics and papers they are made of contain. Yes they go into the landfill and take ages to break down. Yes there are a few greener options, some of these disposable dishes are even compostable. They may even argue that they are saving water by not having to wash dishes, forgetting that water is used in the fabricating process. They may tell you that they don't wash their dishes as they don't want wear and tear on their kitchen sink or their dishwasher. They may claim that it is a choice they made because they felt it was better for their family. They may insist that they are better parents because instead of spending time washing dishes, they are spending time with their kids. They may tell you that they made this choice because they get grossed out by leftover food and scraping that food and rinsing it off is just not something they want to deal with. They may tell you that they don't like the smell of food traces left to sit on real dishes, with disposable ones it is put in the garbage immediately, out of sight and out of mind. They might come up with all sorts of excuses to justify their choice. They also might tell you that they are too poor to afford a kitchen to wash their dishes in or to store them when when not in use. They might explain how they have to reuse their disposable dishes, allowing the less dirty ones to dry out before reusing them. They might have some good excuses.

There are times and places to use disposable dishes, but I am sure the majority of us choose not to use them on a regular basis. They are easier for sure, but using real dishes has been ingrained in us. I am sure some of my friends reading this have been tempted to use disposable dishes full time, especially in our lazy university days. I even was. Hopefully none of you have ever done so for very long. Our Grandparents used real dishes, our parents did too and hopefully our kids will continue on that tradition. I am sure there are disposable dish companies who hoped, back in the day they were invented, that they would catch on and that our lovely silver wear and china would become obsolete. Fortunately their marketing wasn't good enough, and it hasn't.

Sadly, with diapers, the marketing worked.