From The Newspaper (23) 　Environment (13)
February 23, 2023
In recent news, Starbucks in this country has started to repeatedly use hard plastic glasses for cold drinks. The use of those glasses will spread to all shops by the end of this March. This system could decrease the waste in Starbucks to half than before.

This news reminded him of a TV program that he had recently watched. The title of the program was 'Is that Really Eco-Friendly?'

The TV program talked about "Green Wash". "Green Wash" is the term meaning "to announce that something is eco-friendly, but there is no evidence". The program showed some examples. A company in Europe had been advertising that their products- drinks- are eco-friendly, showing their animation commercial in which a woman squeezes a fruit from a tree and some liquid drips. But, when an NPO demanded the company to explain how their products are eco-friendly, the company couldn't specify. The company had no difference from other companies, exporting materials from far countries, processing them using machines, putting them in disposable containers, transporting them by truck, etc. Later the authorities banned the commercial.

Next, the program showed a reusable cup system.
A company has started a recycling cup system with convenience stores. Customers can return their stainless cups after drinking. The company collects them, washes them, and returns them. A specialist who was on TV as a commentator researched the system's CO2 emission compared with the disposable plastic cups' case. The result was different from the company's expectations. Unless using stainless cups at least 100 times, the reuse of the system's CO2 emission is over than disposable cups. In this case, besides making and disposing of the stainless cups and washing them, transportation to and back from the washing factory was the key. The trucks emitted a lot of CO2. Now the company has started to rethink about changing the washing place to closer locations, and they are going to show the results on their website.

In Starbucks' case, from the news article, they wash their hard plastic glasses in each shop's sink, so maybe it's better than using disposable cups. But, it wasn't so simple.  

The specialist pointed out that when washing things for reuse or recycling, using hot water emits CO2 15 times more than just (cold) water. Just burning a plastic cup in an incinerator emits CO2 40 times more, so reusing it after rinsing with just (cold) water is the right thing. But, for example, it is a small plastic tube which had oily things, he recommended to just throw it away as disposable trash.

The specialist emphasized that the most important thing is to collect data on how much CO2 will be emitted from that process. If you use your own shopping bag, called eco-bag, instead of plastic bags at a supermarket, you need to use that one eco-bag more than 100 times, because in the process of making that eco-bag, a certain amount of CO2 was emitted.

After watching the TV program, he came to think about checking his data. He remembered that his electric company has a website and shows his monthly electricity use for each customer. He checked his past usage:

January :  398 kwh (2021), 391 kwh (2022)
February : 384 kwh (2021), 403 kwh (2022)
March : 298 kwh (2021), 340 kwh (2022)
April : 250 kwh (2021), 220 kwh (2022)
May : 192 kwh (2021), 179 kwh (2022)
June : 198 kwh (2021), 179 kwh (2022)
July : 235 kwh (2021), 234 kwh (2022)
August : 221 kwh (2021), 230 kwh (2022)
September : 172 kwh (2021), 185 kwh (2022)
October : 175 kwh (2021), 212 kwh (2022)
November : 277 kwh (2021), 263 kwh (2022)
December : 391 kwh (2021), 434 kwh (2022)

It was clear that the most consuming electricity was in the winter. He uses a fan-heater, a kotatsu, a circulator in his living room, and a panel heater in his bedroom at night. He uses an air-conditioner in the summer, so July and August have more electricity consumption in the spring and autumn in which he doesn't use those electric appliances. He also uses kerosene for the fan-heater, so in the winter, he emits more CO2.

He checked his gas usage from some monthly receipts remaining. From those, he couldn't see a big difference: July and August : 2.4 m3 and 2.3 m3, May 2.6m3, October 1.9 m3, January and February : 3.1 m3 and 2.8 m3. He uses gas for cooking and hot water. He takes a bath mainly at his gym, rarely at home, he uses hot water to wash even in summer because tap water is kind of cool, but maybe the original water temperature in winter is colder than other seasons so the winter's gas consumption is the most. About his water consumption, there is no remarkable difference, 7 or 8 m3 per month.






No. 510



*specify :特定する
*incinerator :焼却炉
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