Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto

Always Learning

I was so thrilled when the Board passed the “Covenant of Sustainable Purchasing and Use” last month. It is a great articulation of our desire to pay attention to the triple bottom line (money, people, and the environment).

With so many big church parties coming up, we realized that choosing the most eco-friendly plates and cups is not straightforward. Is it better to use paper plates and save water, or reusable china plates and save trees? Sometimes our choices are not clear, and we need to learn more to make a good decision. But some things we know:

• Compostable plates are now available that are made of corn products and can be put with food waste in garden compost bins. (see the Integrated Waste Management Board’s Compostable Products for more information.) These can be expensive, but support cutting edge technology. (Though I think Chinet had some at my local grocery store — they are called “Casuals.”)

• Paper plates made of recycled material are better than new paper plates, as they reduce the need for logging. Notice on the packaging how much post-consumer material goes into the plate. More is better.

• If we are going to use plastic cups or plates, let’s be sure to use a #1 - #7 (Look for the number on the bottom of containers) which can be put out with curbside recycling in Palo Alto. Be sure to put out well marked recycling bins at your event to make sure it is easy for people to recycle their plastic plates or cups. Palo Alto does not accept Food contaminated paper, plastic or foil, so be sure to rinse any plastic plates you hope to recycle.

• Coming in last are Styrofoam plates, which are more toxic to produce, and do not degrade in landfill (see Ditch Styrofoam). Also, Palo Alto does not recycle expanded polystyrene (e.g., mailing peanuts, blocks, food trays, cups). So that’s a lot of resources to use for a dead-end material.

Do you have more ideas about how to have greener church events? E-mail the Green Sanctuary Committee and we’ll grow green together.