Extreme obesity and paper plates. Question for people in the USA

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  • glassyo
    glassyo Posts: 7,585 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    glassyo wrote: »
    Deviette wrote: »
    Deviette wrote: »
    Redordeadhead wrote: »
    I only use real crockery and cutlery (plastic washable if taking a packed lunch), including in the microwave and to dish out takeaway food. Often, I wash dishes after every meal.

    Paper and disposable items for me would be exclusively for a picnic setting or something like a kid's birthday party. Otherwise I would personally find it wasteful, although I'm conscious that all that washing up also uses water and energy.

    As someone who used to work in papermaking: nowhere near as much as paper production. Paper making is an exceptionally water intensive process. Even if you used a sink load of water for one plate, you're probably still not using as much water as was used in the production of a single paper plate.


    On the subject of the actual topic. Reading the comments I cannot believe how many people use paper plates because they simply cannot be bothered to wash up. I mean it takes literally at most 10 seconds to wipe a plate down, and then another 10 seconds to dry it. If I needed a plate and I've run out, I will just clean one and use that. I got this habit from my parents who would do the same thing and they were both working (running their own business) and had 4 children, so the excuse of being busy by having children and working full time just doesn't fly with me.

    We don't even have paper plates in our house. If we needed more plates for an event I'd ask people to bring some over with them (unless it was a really big event, then I probably would get some paper stuff in rather than asking lots of people to bring lots of plates, but at that point I might just considering hiring some actual plates, or a lots of small kids, although reusable plastic plates exist), because paper plates are just rubbish, I mean seriously, they're small and you can't put sauces on them well, and they're just unpleasant to eat off, and they bend if you do put a reasonable amount of food on them. And that's not even considering that fact that once you're done with them they literally ARE just rubbish because once they've been stained with food they can't be recycled, unless they have a plastic film on them (which is super hard to recycle anyway, so is probably not recycled even if you do put in the recycling bin) and then you'd have to wash them before putting them into the recycling anyway, and then what have you saved?

    TLDR: I cannot see any reason why any human being would need to use paper plates in their own house.
    Sorry was letting my privilege show there, obviously that final sentence should have read:

    "TLDR: I cannot see any reason why any human being capable of doing washing up would need to use paper plates in their own house."

    It was too late to edit my previous post

    It's still showing. ☺

    Honestly, I can't see why people have such strong opinions on how other people choose to plate their foods..

    I've also started getting Judging People at the Supermarket thread vibes.

    Either you're physically capable of washing dishes or you're not. Either you want to take the time to wash dishes or you don't. If I brought prepared food home that was already packaged, it would never even occur to me to get out a nice, clean plate to put it on. I wouldn't even put it on a paper plate. Why dirty something you don't need to? I have no one I need to impress. And, no, I'm not saying any one who uses real dishes is trying to impress anyone.

    Did you guys know that Chinese food containers are designed to be opened up so they can be used as plates? Information you never thought you'd need. One of the joys of the internet. ☺

    No idea why you brought up "impress" then...

    When we get subs, my partner uses the wrapping as a plate. I use a plate plate. If not for weighing, I'd use the wrapper as well. When we get pizza, I again use a plate plate - this time because I am also eating it with a big salad. He uses the pizza box. (He also has a salad, and uses a salad bowl for that. I like mine on the same plate.) It literally takes under a minute to wash, dry, and put away a plate.

    I brought up impress because that's just the way I talk about myself. Which is why I specifically said that about everyone else.

    LOL I don't even put the three bowls I use away because I just need to use them again the next night. I wash them and stick them on the dish drainer thingy.

    It's good to live alone. ☺

  • glassyo
    glassyo Posts: 7,585 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    Theoldguy1 wrote: »
    SuzySunshine99 wrote: »
    glassyo wrote: »
    Deviette wrote: »
    Deviette wrote: »
    Redordeadhead wrote: »
    I only use real crockery and cutlery (plastic washable if taking a packed lunch), including in the microwave and to dish out takeaway food. Often, I wash dishes after every meal.

    Paper and disposable items for me would be exclusively for a picnic setting or something like a kid's birthday party. Otherwise I would personally find it wasteful, although I'm conscious that all that washing up also uses water and energy.

    As someone who used to work in papermaking: nowhere near as much as paper production. Paper making is an exceptionally water intensive process. Even if you used a sink load of water for one plate, you're probably still not using as much water as was used in the production of a single paper plate.


    On the subject of the actual topic. Reading the comments I cannot believe how many people use paper plates because they simply cannot be bothered to wash up. I mean it takes literally at most 10 seconds to wipe a plate down, and then another 10 seconds to dry it. If I needed a plate and I've run out, I will just clean one and use that. I got this habit from my parents who would do the same thing and they were both working (running their own business) and had 4 children, so the excuse of being busy by having children and working full time just doesn't fly with me.

    We don't even have paper plates in our house. If we needed more plates for an event I'd ask people to bring some over with them (unless it was a really big event, then I probably would get some paper stuff in rather than asking lots of people to bring lots of plates, but at that point I might just considering hiring some actual plates, or a lots of small kids, although reusable plastic plates exist), because paper plates are just rubbish, I mean seriously, they're small and you can't put sauces on them well, and they're just unpleasant to eat off, and they bend if you do put a reasonable amount of food on them. And that's not even considering that fact that once you're done with them they literally ARE just rubbish because once they've been stained with food they can't be recycled, unless they have a plastic film on them (which is super hard to recycle anyway, so is probably not recycled even if you do put in the recycling bin) and then you'd have to wash them before putting them into the recycling anyway, and then what have you saved?

    TLDR: I cannot see any reason why any human being would need to use paper plates in their own house.
    Sorry was letting my privilege show there, obviously that final sentence should have read:

    "TLDR: I cannot see any reason why any human being capable of doing washing up would need to use paper plates in their own house."

    It was too late to edit my previous post

    It's still showing. ☺

    Honestly, I can't see why people have such strong opinions on how other people choose to plate their foods..

    I've also started getting Judging People at the Supermarket thread vibes.

    Either you're physically capable of washing dishes or you're not. Either you want to take the time to wash dishes or you don't. If I brought prepared food home that was already packaged, it would never even occur to me to get out a nice, clean plate to put it on. I wouldn't even put it on a paper plate. Why dirty something you don't need to? I have no one I need to impress. And, no, I'm not saying any one who uses real dishes is trying to impress anyone.

    Did you guys know that Chinese food containers are designed to be opened up so they can be used as plates? Information you never thought you'd need. One of the joys of the internet. ☺

    Well, people have strong opinions about environmental issues, which is how I see this.

    If you chucked a bag of garbage out your car window, you might get some strong reactions, even if that's how you choose to dispose of your trash.

    I don't have a zero carbon footprint, so I'm not trying to be "holier than thou"...but I think reducing waste by using reusable dishes and flatware is relatively easy to do for the able-bodied.

    Electric dishwasher works great.

    For those who have one to use (I don't - but it would maybe conserve water if I did, depending on load size).

    That said, having the time and able-bodied-ness, I figure dishwashing is another 6 or 12 calories burned via daily activity, so why not?

    I do have a dish drainer always on the counter by the sink - the horrors, from an anti-clutter standpoint! 😆 - in fact, I store daily-use dish/utensil items right in it, in effect. Air dry is reportedly cleaner than towel dry - gotta "eat clean", y'know? 😆🤣

    Good point about the calories!
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
    Fatgonegirl wrote: »
    There are some extremely interesting posts on the thread.

    I don't know if I dare say - Another surprise watching My 600lb life is that judging from the nature and condition of their homes, many of the participants live in poverty. I suppose this is because they can not work due to their size and are in receipt of benefits. Nevertheless, they often (although not always) own very nice cars.

    I will say I have noticed that. And I've often wondered if (and I think that there IS, although someone may know for sure, or can look it up and correct me) there is a correlation between poverty/income level and obesity rates/overall health. Which would make sense, as when you make more money, you have access to better/more frequent healthcare (here in the States, where unless you are low income you have to pay for your healthcare) as well shopping habits are quite different, often (trying not to make generalizations, because I've been a single parent making $10 an hour and didnt buy crap food, so it can be done, but I dont know that it is the NORM)

    I cant say Ive ever noticed their vehicles ... other than the fact they have to ... lay in them.

  • sarah7591
    sarah7591 Posts: 415 Member
    edited September 2021
    Interesting thread indeed. Perhaps it is a rental car they are using (show provides). I would bet on that. Eating healthy is expensive. It's sad but so true. There are food deserts in the poorer areas of the city(no major grocery store in the inner city). Every notice that? At my age I can afford to eat healthy but when I was raising three kids I have to admit I bought way more processed foods than I should have to save money.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,883 Member
    Fatgonegirl wrote: »
    There are some extremely interesting posts on the thread.

    I asked the question because I was genuinely interested to know the prevalence of disposable crockery and cutlery. From this unscientific, unrepresentative and not statistically significant snapshot, it does seem that the use of paper plates is more common in the USA than in the UK. Coming from a very damp small island, it did not occur to me that obtaining water for washing up could be a problem. So I have learnt something.

    Full disclosure, I have some paper plates in my kitchen cupboard leftover from the BBQ season. They are likely to site there until next summer.

    I don't know if I dare say - Another surprise watching My 600lb life is that judging from the nature and condition of their homes, many of the participants live in poverty. I suppose this is because they can not work due to their size and are in receipt of benefits. Nevertheless, they often (although not always) own very nice cars.

    I'm guessing a car is provided by the show if there is no suitable vehicle owned.
  • ythannah
    ythannah Posts: 4,365 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    Fatgonegirl wrote: »
    There are some extremely interesting posts on the thread.

    I asked the question because I was genuinely interested to know the prevalence of disposable crockery and cutlery. From this unscientific, unrepresentative and not statistically significant snapshot, it does seem that the use of paper plates is more common in the USA than in the UK. Coming from a very damp small island, it did not occur to me that obtaining water for washing up could be a problem. So I have learnt something.

    Full disclosure, I have some paper plates in my kitchen cupboard leftover from the BBQ season. They are likely to site there until next summer.

    I don't know if I dare say - Another surprise watching My 600lb life is that judging from the nature and condition of their homes, many of the participants live in poverty. I suppose this is because they can not work due to their size and are in receipt of benefits. Nevertheless, they often (although not always) own very nice cars.

    I'm guessing a car is provided by the show if there is no suitable vehicle owned.

    I'd make the same guess, particularly since I've noticed a different car in some of the later segments, when they didn't really look like people who had the means to buy a new vehicle.

    Several have made reference to living on some sort of disability benefit though.
  • Theoldguy1
    Theoldguy1 Posts: 2,454 Member
    Fatgonegirl wrote: »
    There are some extremely interesting posts on the thread.

    I asked the question because I was genuinely interested to know the prevalence of disposable crockery and cutlery. From this unscientific, unrepresentative and not statistically significant snapshot, it does seem that the use of paper plates is more common in the USA than in the UK. Coming from a very damp small island, it did not occur to me that obtaining water for washing up could be a problem. So I have learnt something.

    Full disclosure, I have some paper plates in my kitchen cupboard leftover from the BBQ season. They are likely to site there until next summer.

    I don't know if I dare say - Another surprise watching My 600lb life is that judging from the nature and condition of their homes, many of the participants live in poverty. I suppose this is because they can not work due to their size and are in receipt of benefits. Nevertheless, they often (although not always) own very nice cars.

    I'm guessing due to lack of a paper industry and the cost of importing paper products would make paper plates unpopular in the UK just due to the cost.
  • BecomingMoreAwesome
    BecomingMoreAwesome Posts: 150 Member
    paperpudding wrote: »
    I hadn't thought about it, but I can certainly see the argument for disposable plates and utensils if you have mobility, stability, gripping strength, or other issues that make breakable dishes and loading and unloading a dishwasher (or washing by hand) problematic. I have some inexpensive plastic plates I bought for serving heavier or damp/greasy things like burgers at cookouts so I didn't have to worry about paper plates collapsing, but that would only help with the breakage issue.


    I get the logic in not using breakable plates if you might drop and break them - but my solution in that situation ( and with young children) would be to use melamine plates.

    although admittedly you still have to wash them after wards.

    This, or Corelle, which also runs the gamut from inexpensive and available at the hardware store to fancy and available at nicer department stores. I intensely dislike seeing my sink full of dirty dishes, so we have a load-as-you-go system here. We run the dishwasher every night right after dinner, and each person is responsible for loading their own dishes throughout the day.

    During the shutdown while all 4 of us were home all day, we typically needed to run the dishwasher one extra time every 2 or 3 days.

  • Redordeadhead
    Redordeadhead Posts: 1,188 Member
    Theoldguy1 wrote: »
    Fatgonegirl wrote: »
    There are some extremely interesting posts on the thread.

    I asked the question because I was genuinely interested to know the prevalence of disposable crockery and cutlery. From this unscientific, unrepresentative and not statistically significant snapshot, it does seem that the use of paper plates is more common in the USA than in the UK. Coming from a very damp small island, it did not occur to me that obtaining water for washing up could be a problem. So I have learnt something.

    Full disclosure, I have some paper plates in my kitchen cupboard leftover from the BBQ season. They are likely to site there until next summer.

    I don't know if I dare say - Another surprise watching My 600lb life is that judging from the nature and condition of their homes, many of the participants live in poverty. I suppose this is because they can not work due to their size and are in receipt of benefits. Nevertheless, they often (although not always) own very nice cars.

    I'm guessing due to lack of a paper industry and the cost of importing paper products would make paper plates unpopular in the UK just due to the cost.

    Actually they're cheap and quite easy to find, in most supermarkets for example.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,959 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    Fatgonegirl wrote: »
    There are some extremely interesting posts on the thread.

    I asked the question because I was genuinely interested to know the prevalence of disposable crockery and cutlery. From this unscientific, unrepresentative and not statistically significant snapshot, it does seem that the use of paper plates is more common in the USA than in the UK. Coming from a very damp small island, it did not occur to me that obtaining water for washing up could be a problem. So I have learnt something.

    Full disclosure, I have some paper plates in my kitchen cupboard leftover from the BBQ season. They are likely to site there until next summer.

    I don't know if I dare say - Another surprise watching My 600lb life is that judging from the nature and condition of their homes, many of the participants live in poverty. I suppose this is because they can not work due to their size and are in receipt of benefits. Nevertheless, they often (although not always) own very nice cars.

    I'm guessing a car is provided by the show if there is no suitable vehicle owned.

    I have never watched this show, but I am having a hard time imagining someone who weighs 600 lbs fitting inside a car, much less behind the wheel and able to drive it. Or is 600 lb life not meant literally? Are there a lot of contestants* below 400 lbs (which is about the point where my imagination can't picture someone being able to drive).

    *Again, I haven't seen the show, so apologies if the participants aren't actually contesting for anything. Is it more like that nanny show whose exact title I can't remember, or Queer Eye, or those home makeover shows, where people are just swooping in to try fix some aspect of someone's life, in this case their weight, rather than people competing to see how much weight they can lose?
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,959 Member
    Redordeadhead wrote: »
    Theoldguy1 wrote: »
    Fatgonegirl wrote: »
    There are some extremely interesting posts on the thread.

    I asked the question because I was genuinely interested to know the prevalence of disposable crockery and cutlery. From this unscientific, unrepresentative and not statistically significant snapshot, it does seem that the use of paper plates is more common in the USA than in the UK. Coming from a very damp small island, it did not occur to me that obtaining water for washing up could be a problem. So I have learnt something.

    Full disclosure, I have some paper plates in my kitchen cupboard leftover from the BBQ season. They are likely to site there until next summer.

    I don't know if I dare say - Another surprise watching My 600lb life is that judging from the nature and condition of their homes, many of the participants live in poverty. I suppose this is because they can not work due to their size and are in receipt of benefits. Nevertheless, they often (although not always) own very nice cars.

    I'm guessing due to lack of a paper industry and the cost of importing paper products would make paper plates unpopular in the UK just due to the cost.

    Actually they're cheap and quite easy to find, in most supermarkets for example.

    Yeah, I bet you have paper books and magazines and newspapers and all sorts, as well (young 'uns: everybody used to read things printed on paper !! and some old folks still do now and then. I know it sounds hard to believe, but you can look it up). :smile:
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,959 Member
    paperpudding wrote: »
    COGypsy wrote: »
    SuzySunshine99 wrote: »
    COGypsy wrote: »
    My thought is that the paper plates are already made. I can't unmake them and put the trees and water and whatever else back into nature, so why not use what's already there? I didn't know though that you can't recycle things that touch food, which basically makes my recycling bin obsolete. And in the greater scheme of things, since pretty much all food comes in a plastic tray or a plastic bag anyway, what does a paper plate matter on top of that?

    But…if people used less, then they would make less, no?

    I suppose I'm just unconvinced that the impact of 2-3 paper plates a week is going to upend the disposable food service product industry.

    I could see making a difference with plastics--I honestly can't think of more than a handful of foods that don't come in plastic in some way, shape, or form. But at my level of consumption, I just don't see paper products as the ecological hill to die on.


    well, nobody's individual consumption is going to make a difference on world level - that could be said about plastic bags, straws, water bottles etc - other things that people have cut down on their usage of (sometimes voluntarily, sometimes mandated)

    But the cumulative effect adds up - and we can all only do our own bit.

    and of course if people buy less of these things, less get produced after that.

    I'm not suggesting anyone die on the hill of paper plates (tad melodramatic?) - but that we all consider our ecological foot print and try to cut down on unneccesary disposable product usage.

    There will be times when we accept making a poorer ecological choice and there can be good reasons for that ( I don't go to a BBQ in a park and take my own washable plates to take home and wash afterwards, I use paper plates and then bin them there ) but do the best we can and make reasonable choices whenever practical and possible.

    I'm not understanding this comment that you cannot recycle things that have touched food??? - we do that all the time here and our council pamphlets encourage such - put food tins, pizza boxes, plastic fruit punnets etc etc into your recycling bin (basic rinse/scrape off excess food first, that's all)

    I realise different places have different levels of recycling - but never heard of not being able to recycle things that have touched food before :*





    Yeah. We're not supposed to put anything in the recycling that still has food on it, but there's no restriction on things that have ever touched food.

    Although I learned after I started composting that in our jurisdiction we're not supposed to compost "anything that has been inside" (i.e., no wilted greens or trimmed veggie ends, etc.) -- just lawn clippings.

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