To think using paper plates is the height of lazy.

[TheDarkHouse]

I keep seeing reels and videos of people, mostly (if not all) Americans serving up dinner on either polystyrene plates or paper plates.

AIBU to think that’s laziness/time saving/convenience too far? Most videos these people have decent kitchens so presumably can house a dishwasher. Not that hard, nor time consuming to stack plates.

Disposable tableware for day to day dining seems the height of laziness.

They can’t be recycled once used. Think how many treees you’ve used when it’s totally unnecessary

I get the appeal - 100% - but it is shite for the planet and those are v easy plates to wash up - barely more than a rinse

All of you who are using the lazy and bad for the environment- I hope you never ever use the car for a drive of less than 2 miles? I hope you choose public transport over your car at every available opportunity. I hope that you don't shower every day. I hope that you rewear your clothes until they actually need washing...

I could go on, but I'm sure you get my point.

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Although you could always burn the paper plates after use in the wood burner. So that might be more acceptable than slinging them in the recycling bag.

I do! As I've already said. I don't even drive. I am disabled though, so if I need to leave the house dp needs to take me.

It is. My American in laws haven’t used washable tableware since about 1980.

Everyone can always do more to save the planet, surely it’s about balance. I might choose to use disposable plates, but I haven’t had children, I don’t take flights, I’m largely plant based, I mostly cycle to/ from work, I don’t use harmful cosmetics, I don’t have any pets, I line dry my clothes, I use tote bags, I use a hard shampoo. On the other hand I order my food shop using HelloFresh which increases packaging, I use disposable sanitary products, I order from Amazon. I’m a human and some of my choices are more harmful to the planet than yours and some are better to it than some of yours. A single person using paper plates to save energy isn’t on its own a hugely harmful decision, or certainly no more harmful than the decision of whether to eat meat or drive an SUV or fly abroad or own a tumble dryer. It’s only because it’s not the norm you think it’s wasteful, you personally see it as unnecessary but in the grand scheme of things even if nobody ever used a disposable plate again worldwide it would make very little difference compared to taking petrol cars off the road or planes out of the sky or slowing global population growth by choosing not to have kids or everybody going vegan etc. In that way I see them as a non issue, there are far more effective things to campaign fit.

Being what you call a hypocrite is what others call doing their best in 90% of the other areas of their lives to offset some of the damage. You dont do anything. At least the hypocrites might buy a few extra years of a lower temperature on thos planet, which you will benefit from despite doing little to do your part.

If everyone did 90% we would be living in a better and more equitable world.

It's a decision that doesnt need to be made though. If you genuinely care about the planet, how can you not want to forgo a 30 second minor inconvenience?

What I'm saying is let's say you want to go to Australia. The only real way of getting there is plane...boat would probably be even worse for the environment. Now if you want to eat your dinner, using a china plate is not much more difficult than using a paper plate. Your food is still served on a plate. You haven't actually made a big sacrifice at all.

Paper plates can be great if you are chronically ill, disabled or temporarily ill even. As we can't know who this applies to on social media from a few seconds or minutes is it fair to judge? I'm not saying by any means all of the people we see doing this fall into those categories. But I would personally rather not judge someone using something which can support independence.

OMG how hard is it to wash up? I'll give you a pass if you're disabled but otherwise, absolutely not.

I take it none of you have ever been to Hong Kong? Every day in our hotel we would get (from housekeeping): 2 plastic glasses in a plastic wrap, 2 plastic tooth brushes in plastic wraps, razor, soaps everything in the bathroom was plastic, wrapped in plastic.

Went to a shop that sells souvenirs of a particular character, I bought many, many items. Each one, even individual pens and pencils was wrapped in its own separate plastic wrapper.

it’s doesn’t feel nice eating off a paper plate though except maybe if it’s a party or a picnic but something like a roast dinner?

It's affecting the environment, for one thing.

Because what’s a minor inconvenience to you is a major difficulty for me. I have adhd, I struggle with housework massively, dirty dishes piled up in the sink become overwhelming, they stress me out and exacerbate my mental health issues. You might find washing up easy, I don’t, I find household chores very difficult. For me I don’t see why anybody would choose to drive a local journey rather than cycle or get the bus, they’re only a minor inconvenience. I don’t understand why people would eat meat when plant based is often and still tasty, but of course plenty of people don’t agree, for some people the inconvenience of cycling somewhere is more impactful than it is to me.

It’s easy to judge people through what you personally find easy/ difficult/ reasonable and decide anybody who experiences life differently is therefore lazy and unreasonable but reality is we all find different things easy/ hard/ overwhelming/ manageable. Very few people actually make environmental choices that have a negative impact on them or make life harder for them, they make choices which are easy for them and then judge others for not doing the same ignoring the factors which might make doing the same more difficult. For example it’s easy for me not to take flights, I’m single so have no one to travel with and I can’t afford holidays anyway, I could get on my high horse and judge people who do holiday regularly and claim to be a better eco-warrior than them but reality is no flights has been an easy change for me to make. The same with being plant based as I don’t massively like meat and dairy products anyway. It’s easy for you to judge paper plates, you obviously don’t find washing up a genuinely difficult chore or perhaps you are lucky enough to own a dishwasher but that is not the case for me. Instead of looking at what others can do to better the environment maybe look at your own choices because I can guarantee you won’t be living a carbon neutral life yourself and that many of the choices you make to better your own life will have an environmental impact.

Aren't they like pizza boxes and can't be recycles if they are greasy etc

I lived in New York in the 80's and was surprised by this on visiting someone's home.

I'm a single parent and I don't have a dishwasher. I'm usually exhausted at the end of the day so I'll use paper plates to ensure I have the energy to cook dinner and get everyone dressed and teeth brushed and into bed and then do the evening tidying. It's one tiny way to make my life easier.

Once Again… mind ur own business ! Ppl can use paper plates all the like. U don’t like it u use ur normal plates. Couldn’t bring myself to care what ppl eat of tbh !

Say you’re ableist without saying it 🙄 disabled people sometimes find paper Plates are the only thing they manage. So no it is not laziness.

They are great for kids parties.

@tothelefttotheleft no idea?
I'll put them with general waste if this is the case.
I don't have additional needs, just prefer to use them for easiness.
Happy to take the "omg you're soooo lazy" comments, really not something to get worked up about at all imo

And how do you know if somone is disabled?

I became aware of this recently in the US from social media

Able-bodied normal family people using paper plates to serve food on as their normal way of working.

It is lazy and greedy and creates endless waste.

Of course I use paper plates for parties and a like.

But when you're at home and have a dishwasher I just cannot reconcile this.