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Health & Fitness

EcoChoices: The Panera Bread Dilemma

When getting baked goods at Panera Bread should you opt for the plate or the paper bag?

I will now go back to my original dilemma: when ordering baked goods at Panera Bread do you get them in the paper bag or reusable plastic plate? The bag cannot be recycled if it contains food residue. The plate can be reused, but it first will have to be washed using dish detergent and water.

Although water is seemingly endless in our affluent, drought-free society, it isn’t. Only 2.6% of all water on the planet is freshwater. Of that freshwater only .014% is readily accessible since most freshwater makes up ice caps and glaciers. We may not realize it but water is as precious a resource as our disappearing rainforests.

Panera Bread makes their bags from recyclable and certified sustainable paper sources. Panera also encourages their customers to recycle. According to CNN.com, 14 million trees per year are used to make paper bags. Paper bags are contributing to deforestation in a significant way. If trees are grown sustainably, which Panera's are, then paper can be made without causing deforestation.                                  

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According to livestrong.com, when paper bags are recycled they are broken down to their fibers by being shredded and adding water and chemicals. New wood fibers will also be added to help strengthen the old fibers. The paper bag making process uses a lot of energy, water, and chemicals. The chemicals used in the process contribute to acid rain as well as air and water pollution. Unfortunately, reuseit.com states that 85-90% of paper bags are not recycled. Even if bags are recycled, the recycling process still uses a lot of water, energy, and chemicals.

On the other hand, plastic is made from oil—a finite resource. Using plastic products is just another piece of our unhealthy oil addiction. When our oil supplies run out sometime in the future we will have to cope without our precious plastics. One advantage to the plates is that they are reusable. This means that Panera buys a lot of plates and then keeps and uses them as opposed to continuously buying disposable plates. As previously mentioned water is very scarce and shouldn’t be wasted. Panera plates are made of melamine. According to ehow.com, melamine resin is mixed with formaldehyde to become melamine. Formaldehyde is also contained in many manufactured products that we have contact with on a daily basis. When the reusable plates can no longer be used they will be thrown out. Plastic does not decompose easily so the plates will take up space in landfills for a long time. Melamine is dishwasher safe but when plastics are exposed to heat from dishwashers they can sometimes leak harmful chemicals like BPA.

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In order to reuse the plates water and dish detergent are needed. Dish detergents can contain phosphorous which pollutes and depletes oxygen levels in water. New York has passed a law that dishwasher detergents for commercial use can no longer contain phosphorous as of July 1, 2013.

Overall, the plate is the better option since it can be reused. Also, it takes a lot of water, energy, and chemicals to make the paper bag whether it is recycled or not. If Panera had real plates not made out of plastic then that would be even better.

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