Is it more environmentally friendly to use a napkin or a plate?

Question

Throwing out a napkin vs. the water/soap used to wash a dish

Answer 1

if you use just one plate the same one every day you dont need to wash it, the fresh food loosens up the old crust and incorporates it. i have tried it.

napkins (you mean paper ones dont you? in the u.k a 'napkin' is made of linen) are cool, in fact news paper is just as good, again i have tried this, they are great for greasy food especially and it makes a really good fire lighter afterwards.

Answer 2

Using a dish is absolutely the more environmentally friendly answer.  If you're ever in doubt, remember (in order) Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle as a general rule of thumb.  In your case, using a dish would be reducing AND reusing!  If you used a napkin each time you had a snack/meal, that's a lot of napkins that are being sent to the landfill.  Even if you choose to compost your dirty napkins- although the garbage is being diverted from the landfill, it's a lot of paper that is being wasted... and we all know that paper comes from trees.  Not something we want to waste!  By using a dish, you are creating NO waste.  That is ideal.  It's true that you are using water to wash it, but the small usage of water to wash a dish does not compare to the vast amount of garbage you'd be producing by using something disposable.  Hope that helps!

And if you want to be even more environmentally friendly, try an all natural, biodegradable soap like Dr. Bronner's brand.  This way, you know you aren't sending any scary toxins or chemicals down the drain.  And there are always reusable cloth napkins, too!  :)

Answer 3

Use both paper napkin and plate.

Answer 4

That is a great question and I can't say I know the right answer, but my answer is use a plate.  I say a plate because at some point during the day or two, you will probably eat food that is too moist or runny to use a napkin, and that plate will need to be washed, so when the dishwasher is full you wash all of them, and now a days you can get energy efficient dishwashers which don't use a lot of water.  The plate will not go in the landfill like the napkin and it did not kill a tree to make.

Answer 5

Plate!

Answer 6

I think the most environmentally friendly way to eat is to eat over the kitchen sink without any dishes, like I do!

Answer 7

Dishes are better to eat off of.  Napkins make a huge nasty mess in the dishwasher.

Answer 8

OPTION A> Is the napkin the brown type that has already been recycled a time or two, or are you using the white fancies?  

**The whites waste more paper if you toss em.

How does your trash pick up people dispose of waste?  

**If your  city uses recycling at the facility then  there is no issue.

OPTION B> Water reclaiming in your area may be pretty good if you are in a populated area so soap and water is a good alternative.  However the pretty cardboard ZEST packaging the soap came in will sit in the dump for a hundred years, and take up more space than the napkin will. And the napkins degrade in less than 10 years.

Answer 9

It is better to use plate only. Because we keep the plate by recycling it in our house only. but napkin we through it out and daily if u do so a heap of napkins spoil the environment. So, it is better to us  plate but wash it with water and less soap.