Comments on: Eco-Friendly Initiatives making me Waste More

By: prashu

prashu — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 08:19:47 +0000

Actually when you look at how recycling water works, it is totally different. They cannot use the recycled water for washing crockery and such stuff which comes into contact with edible items. Recycled water is used for flushes, watering gardens etc. Clean water on the other hand is collected through rain water harvesting. There was some new apartments in Bangalore that uses this recycling concept. They have explained it very well using diagrams.

By: ashish

ashish — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 14:01:58 +0000

i partly agree with you. most large buildings we work in have water recycling plants. helps to a good extent. i’ve been using a porcelain mug for the last couple of years (quantity ) but i make it a point to wash it myself everytime. i just dispense a small amount of hot water and rinse it. hth!

By: Akshata

Akshata — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 17:23:53 +0000

Bingo! Our own mugs. But then there are the other kinds – paper/plastic/common mugs – sitting there for those who forget. Choice, I tell you, is good but not the greatest thing on earth

Paper cups here are all some % recycled. There are technical difficulties to make them 100% recycled. And too bad about no pantry – that could have saved a lot of trees!

By: prashu

prashu — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 16:37:05 +0000

Eggjactly, I would rather have these people make mugs out of recycled paper and circulate the already cut trees rather than messing about with water and wasting water. The person washing the cups is a good idea and that is how it should be done. You will not have a problem not rinsing correctly if each employee is given his/her own cup. You will definitely wash it well knowing you have to use the same up each time. The flip side is that they need proper washing areas and sinks. In my office the only place I can wash it is in the loo. No way I am doing that. Else I would have been brining my own cup a long time back. Wife’s building has proper pantry areas where they can wash their mugs.

By: Akshata

Akshata — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 16:18:22 +0000

Interesting! Same thing happened here. One solution would be to have US wash the mugs ourselves – but the flip side is we might just rinse it thinking who’ll check after all

And about the detergents and chemicals, this is a very minuscule part of the rest of the harmful elements being pumped into our water sources. Plus, all our dirty dishes from lunch/myriad snacks need to get washed too, the water and detergents to wash the mugs are next to nothing (in comparison). With that big picture in mind, it is a fair trade-off to want to use less paper/plastic, IMHO.