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In the café where I work, somebody tried introducing pasta, spaghetti in particular, in place of purpose-made wooden sticks, for stirring hot drinks, as it was thought to be more "environmentally friendly".

A number of other people recommend the same technique:

Each year, Americans throw away 138 billion straws and stirrers. But skipping the stirrer doesn’t mean drinking your coffee black. Simply put your sugar and cream in first, and then pour in the coffee, and it should be well mixed. Determined to stir? Break off a piece of pasta from the cupboard! You can nibble after using it, compost, or throw away with less guilt.

I was told it's more environmentally friendly* than using wooden stirring sticks, and I believe it. I haven't really run the numbers though. I don't know where to get the numbers.

Which of plastic, wood and pasta is more environmentally friendly?

For the purposes of discussion, take "environmentally friendly" to mean less air, water and land pollution, as a by-product of both production and disposal. Air pollution can be taken to include carbon emissions.

Additional note: this is expressly about aspects of the service industry, where the re-use of regular spoons doesn't meet hygiene standards and stirring implements are necessarily disposable. Somebody else added the "grab it from your cupboard" excerpt in order to demonstrate notability criteria for this site.

puppybeard
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  • Thanks for the notability edit, I hadn't considered that requirement! – puppybeard Sep 15 '14 at 13:57
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    I note the term "environmentally friendly" is rather broad. Are we trying to minimise the energy consumed? the carbon footprint? pesticide use? landfill use? rubbish floating in the ocean? – Oddthinking Sep 15 '14 at 13:59
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    The grains necessary to produce a pasta noodle will grow in a few months. The tree necessary for a wooden stirrer takes a few years. The oil for a plastic straw takes millennia. I'm sure that's where the claim originates. On the surface, at least, the pasta appears to be more "sustainable." But I have no idea how much petroleum is used to create an average wooden coffee stirrer or pasta noodle. And as Oddthinking points out, "environmentally friendly" is broad, and can have conflicting meanings. – Flimzy Sep 15 '14 at 14:10
  • @Flimzy All three references are from sources whose intention is to "reduce plastic waste". – ChrisW Sep 15 '14 at 14:13
  • @ChrisW: Well, almost certainly, using pasta instead of plastic results in less plastic waste (unless the pasta comes in a lot of plastic packaging). – Flimzy Sep 15 '14 at 14:17
  • I've narrowed the criteria to use in answers for "environmentally friendly" – puppybeard Sep 15 '14 at 14:31
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    The figures work out at a little over one per day for every man, woman and child, but what are the relative figures for stirrers versus straws? Do these sites also recommend drinking your coke through macaroni? – Ken Y-N Sep 15 '14 at 14:39
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    Since the quote advocates grabbing pasta "from the cupboard", I assume you're at home when this choice is made. Am I the only one who just uses a *spoon* while at home? – Is Begot Sep 15 '14 at 16:18
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    Holy ****. Just wait while I patent something called a 'reusable spoon'. – DJClayworth Sep 15 '14 at 20:01
  • This question appears to be off-topic because it is about a ridiculous suggestion. – DJClayworth Sep 15 '14 at 23:11
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    @Geobits: I found references, including the hokey video in the last link, that advocated it for businesses (demonstrated with creamers from single-serve packages!?). – Oddthinking Sep 16 '14 at 00:24
  • @DJClayworth, priceless :) Don't forget the reusable cup too! – Benjol Sep 16 '14 at 07:57
  • @DJClayworth the use-case I'm talking about is in café-type environments, where disposable stirrers are used to avoid necessitating the work of washing and drying spoons constantly while meeting hygiene requirements. – puppybeard Sep 16 '14 at 10:40
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    Washing and drying spoons, too, would 'impact' the environment. – ChrisW Sep 16 '14 at 10:59
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    @puppybeard This is the kind of cafe-type environment where a customer can walk over to a cupboard and take out some spaghetti? – DJClayworth Sep 16 '14 at 13:08
  • @puppybeard In a cafe environment, as DJ points out, you can't just grab a piece of pasta and stir. I suppose you could bring a piece of spaghetti from home, but keeping a piece of thin pasta unbroken throughout the day seems to require some planning. If you're worried about the environment, just bring a spoon instead. The amount of "waste" involved in cleaning a spoon is negligible, especially if you're *already* doing dishes later as most people do. – Is Begot Sep 16 '14 at 13:23
  • The video in the final link seems to suggest a corporate office kitchen, where the plastic stirrers are replaced with a cup/dispenser for spaghetti. – Oddthinking Sep 16 '14 at 13:37
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    @DJClayworth no. One where pasta is provided for purpose. I'm sorry if that wasn't clear. I tried to make what was being compared clear from the first line. I am familiar with spoons, but thanks for sharing your insight. – puppybeard Sep 16 '14 at 14:33
  • Korean style (that is, metal) chopsticks can be found that fold down into a compact case. People bring their own and reuse. That would make an excellent stirr stick as well. – JDługosz Nov 08 '14 at 09:40

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