George Orwell’s 1984 Meets Fast Food

George Orwell’s dystopian novel, 1984, introduced the world to Newspeak...the perfect way to say nothing, while appearing to say something profound or important.

The other day, my wife went by the local Bojangles’ restaurant franchise to get a breakfast biscuit and drink, while on her way to help her parents.  She hadn’t finished the drink when she got back home, and it showed up on the kitchen counter, before it was used up and trashed.  Here is a picture of the “newspeak” message that was found on the back of the cup, with a message designed to comfort/satisfy the "greeniacs" who live among us:

Did you read the message on the cup carefully?  It’s more than a little nebulous, designed to comfort the end user/buyer and relieve any guilt of purchasing and using a product that isn’t "green."  Would this message work for you?  

I have a few questions.  What constitutes 92% degradation?  I can shred the cup in a few minutes (Max).  Is turning the cup from a molded form into vermiculite a 92% degradation?  

This is Corporate Bull Shit to try to appease "the Greeniacs."  With what passes as education today, it might just work....

However, let's have a little remedial education , to enlighten those who might not have thought this process all through.  With any process, there is waste involved.  This occurs in nature and in manufacturing.  In running an internal combustion engine, there is waste heat, rejected to the air around us, and waste exhaust gases.  

In nature, there is waste when nuts are grown, as the shells are not edible.  When we eat, our bodies produce waste excrement.  Waste by definition cannot be used.  In some cases, it's harmful.  In nature, most waste bio-degrades, and is eventually reused.  With manufactured goods, we try to make stuff that can bio degrade and return to nature.  Sometimes it doesn't work.

There are always trade-offs in life:  Opportunities are missed, and other paths are chosen.  In the case of disposable drink cups, the choices are Paper, Plastic or Stryofoam.  Paper is probably the most difficult to make, because of the weight of the paper stock and the "waxing" that is applied to the paper to make it waterproof.  But it biodegrades much more completely than styrofoam.  The trade offs are the insulation factor of the styrofoam as compared to paper stock.  Styrofoam keeps drinks hotter or colder than paper can.  It requires less ice in a cold drink in. order to keep it cold.  

That isn't saying that "recycled styrofoam" doesn't have a use.  Ground up Styrofoam is turned into Vermiculite and added to potting soil to keep it from packing and allowing air to get into the soil keeping microbes healthy in the soil.

Plastic is the least biodegradable option at this time.

As citizens of this planet, we're called to be good stewards of the resources that we live with.  It's foolish and short-sighted to have the attitude that "the next generation can figure out what they'll use.  We're going to use what we have now, and waste our resources.  It's considered unethical for parents to leave their children with less than what they had.

So, we make our choices in life.  The choice is yours:  McDonalds, who uses very little if any styrofoam in its packaging, or maybe Bojangles that uses styrofoam or even Dunkin' Donuts that uses plastic.  Choose wisely, but don't sweat the choice.