I responded, I bet I can show you that paper plates cost more than regular dinnerware, so after leaving my friend’s house I decided to research this topic and determine which costs less. Plus, with Earth Day coming up it seemed like the perfect article.
First, I looked at paper plates and found that there are several type regular, medium weight and heavy weight. My research determined that based on brand, you can spend anywhere from .05 to .16 cents per paper plate and .075 to .15 cents per bowl. For this review I went with the lowest priced paper plates I found.
Second step was to estimate the weekly usage for two people using bowls for breakfast and desserts and paper plates for dinner, weekend lunches and 1 breakfast a week. Taking into account people eat out a few times a week, skip breakfast and eat lunch at work, I came up with 7 paper plates used per person per week and 6 paper bowls used per week.
Paper Plate usage – 5 dinners, 1 lunch, 1 breakfast (7 plates per person per week)
Paper Bowl usage – 4 breakfasts, 1 dessert, 1 snack (6 bowls per person per week)
Third, I needed to determine the cost of standard dishes. While I found a variety of prices, I decided to compare plates with plates and bowls with bowls and a priced Made in the USA Fiesta dinnerware for our comparison. A Fiesta dinner plate is $11.99 and a Fiesta cereal bowl is $8.49.
To make sure that you didn’t have to wash dishes every day, I decided that 4 plates and 4 bowls would be purchased for each person. So a total of 8 plates and 8 bowls would need to be purchase to do a fair comparison.
In this comparison, paper plates and bowls are used once and thrown away and we do not have to replace any of the dinnerware.
Comparison Costs for 1 month, 1 year, 3 years and 5 years
1 Month (4 Weeks) Comparison
Number of Paper Plates Used for 2 People: 56
Cost for Paper Plates: (56 x .05) $2.80
Number of Paper Bowls Used for 2 People: 48
Cost for Paper Plates: (48 x .075) $3.60
Cost to purchase 8 Fiesta Dinner Plates at $11.99 each, $95.92
Cost to purchase 8 Fiesta Dinner Cereal Bowls at $8.49 each, $67.92
After 1 Month: Paper Products Cost $6.40, Fiesta Dinnerware Costs $163.84
So after 1 month, paper plates look like a bargain as a full month’s of paper dinnerware doesn’t even amount to the cost of 1 Fiesta bowl. However if you are concerned about the environment you have filled up 1 bag of trash with nothing but paper plates.
1 Year (52 Weeks) Comparison
Number of Paper Plates Used for 2 People: 728
Cost for Paper Plates: (728 x .05) $36.40
Number of Paper Bowls Used for 2 People: 624
Cost for Paper Plates: (624 x .075) $46.80
Cost to purchase 8 Fiesta Dinner Plates at $11.99 each, $95.92
Cost to purchase 8 Fiesta Dinner Cereal Bowls at $8.49 each, $67.92
After 1 Year: Paper Products Cost $83.20, Fiesta Dinnerware Costs $163.84
Even after 1 entire year paper plates look like the smart choice as the cost to use more than 1,000 bowls and plates is barely half the cost of the dinnerware. However you now have roughly filled up the equivalent of 12 bags of trash full of paper plates and bowls.
3 Year Comparison
Number of Paper Plates Used for 2 People: 2,184
Cost for Paper Plates: (2,184 x .05) $109.20
Number of Paper Bowls Used for 2 People: 1,872
Cost for Paper Plates: (1,872 x .075) $140.40
Cost to purchase 8 Fiesta Dinner Plates at $11.99 each, $95.92
Cost to purchase 8 Fiesta Dinner Cereal Bowls at $8.49 each, $67.92
After 3 Years: Paper Products Cost $249.60, Fiesta Dinnerware Costs $163.84
By the third year the value of purchasing standard dinnerware, instead of paper plates starts to show its value as the initial investment in the dinnerware is now less than the cost of buying paper products for daily use. In addition, if you use paper plates you also have sent 36 trash bags of paper plates and bowls to the landfill.
5 Year Comparison
Number of Paper Plates Used for 2 People: 3,640
Cost for Paper Plates: (3,640 x .05) $182.00
Number of Paper Bowls Used for 2 People: 3,120
Cost for Paper Plates: (3,120 x .075) $234.00
Cost to purchase 8 Fiesta Dinner Plates at $11.99 each, $95.92
Cost to purchase 8 Fiesta Dinner Cereal Bowls at $8.49 each, $67.92
After 5 Years: Paper Products Cost $416.00, Fiesta Dinnerware Costs $163.84
By the end of the fifth year, using paper plates and bowls on a daily basis will have cost more than 2.5 times the cost of investing in standard dinnerware and you will have sent 60 bags of paper products to the landfill.
In the short run using paper plates appears to be a bargain, however in the long run it is an expense that costs you a significant amount of money and sends unneeded bags of garage to our landfills where it can take decades or long for some paper plates to decompose.
While I can admit that cleaning up is easier with paper plates and bowls, but rinsing off a plate or bowl is not difficult. However an investment in dinnerware that can last for decades is a smart personal investment, will save you money in the long run and better for the environment too.
So if you are using paper plates for day to day living this weekend is a great time to reconsider, save some trees, pocket money in the long run and know you did something good to help reduce waste this Earth Day Weekend.
Happy Earth Day,
Dr. Dinnerware
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