Need Some Answers Please

[abluelady]

I try very hard to recycle and do the right stuff. I have stopped using paper napkins and paper towels and use cloth and regular dishes and cups rather than paper products. However, I can't help but wonder every time I run the dishwasher (I'm not giving that up) and the washer and dryer and iron, if I am doing more harm than using paper products that get thrown out!

Does anyone know which is better for our environment? Thanks.

[BlueEyedSon]

1. One of the great mysteries of life!

[Jon8503]

2. I think the fact that you are conscious of the effort to recycle and

do the right stuff is the right thing for our environment. Unfortunately, we can not be perfect on it & can't always do as well as we want but as long as you maintain your efforts as you appear to be doing, you will be helping toward a better environment for all of us and our children, grandchildren and animal-life. I especially hate the polluting of our waters as well as the land.

Don't know if this answered your question but guess what I am saying is continue to do what you are doing and when you find a way to contribute towards the environment, just do it. Also, thanks for your efforts as I too think recycling and environment problems is important to us all. Did'nt mean to make this a long reply.

[classof56]

3. Kudos on your environmentally conscientious lifestyle!

My advice about the dishwasher is make sure it's full and pop the lid during the dry cycle (I'm guessing you already do that). Just a couple of long-standing energy-saving measures. And use cold water for most of your washer loads, and if I recall, the iron doesn't use much juice. I think the dryer is one of the appliances that uses the most energy, so if you're able to line-dry your clothes (and don't mind scratchy bath towels), that's another good energy-saver. These measures save electricity--water over the dam, so to speak. The paper products of course save the trees. Your recycling efforts pay off huge benefits in many ways, especially in not taking up the land fill space that's a growing problem almost everywhere. IMHO, you're doing good. Keep it up!

Tired Old Cynic

[Trajan]

4. Chuckles ...

Has anyone worked out the paper/tree versus energy/tree calculus yet ? ... Is saving a tree comparable to some amount of natural gas burned in a steam generating plant ? .... Im not sure it is fair to make such comparisons, given that the reasons for limiting either are derived from differing motivations ...

Never the less: I use regular plates, and wash them by hand, because the dishwasher hardly cleans any dishes .... The dishwasher is just a drying rack ....

[abluelady]

5. Thank You So Much

As I said, I can't give up the dishwasher, but it is ALWAYS full as is the washer and dryer. Thanks for the answers. I will continue doing as I am and when we get more sophisticated with our environimental efforts, I will do the best I can.