Well, I was wondering.
Some explanation:
"Ceramic cup, hand wash" is the least environmentally friendly choice. Simply because a ceramic cup takes about 70 times the energy to produce than a styrofoam one, washing one with a 3/4 loaded dishwasher takes about the same amount of energy, water and chemicals, and that dishwasher takes about half the energy, a sixth of the water and less soap than doing it by hand.
"Paper cup, recycle it" is quite bad as well, because paper takes a lot of energy and chemicals, the cups aren't made of recycled paper due to contamination concerns, and if you throw some in with the paper to be recycled, it adds plastic to it and makes that batch unusable.
"Styrofoam cup, throw it away" is by far the most environmentally sound choice. The only thing you can say against it, is that it biodegrades slower than a paper one, although it falls apart faster.
And a plastic, single-use bottle beats a glass one easily as well.
Some explanation:
"Ceramic cup, hand wash" is the least environmentally friendly choice. Simply because a ceramic cup takes about 70 times the energy to produce than a styrofoam one, washing one with a 3/4 loaded dishwasher takes about the same amount of energy, water and chemicals, and that dishwasher takes about half the energy, a sixth of the water and less soap than doing it by hand.
"Paper cup, recycle it" is quite bad as well, because paper takes a lot of energy and chemicals, the cups aren't made of recycled paper due to contamination concerns, and if you throw some in with the paper to be recycled, it adds plastic to it and makes that batch unusable.
"Styrofoam cup, throw it away" is by far the most environmentally sound choice. The only thing you can say against it, is that it biodegrades slower than a paper one, although it falls apart faster.
And a plastic, single-use bottle beats a glass one easily as well.