Disposable

For the 1968 garage rock album, see Disposable (album).
"Single use" redirects here. For the concept in operating system technology, see Single user.

Disposable is an adjective meaning the ability of something to be disposed of or thrown away after use. Many people now use the term as a noun, i.e. "a disposable" but in reality this is still an adjective as the noun (product, nappy, etc.) is implied. Disposable income is the amount of money left over from one's salary or pay for spending, saving or whatever, after all living costs have been taken out. A disposable (also called disposable product) is a product designed for a single use after which it is recycled or is disposed as solid waste. The term often implies cheapness and short-term convenience rather than medium to long-term durability. The term is also sometimes used for products that may last several months (e.g. disposable air filters) to distinguish from similar products that last indefinitely (e.g. washable air filters). The word "disposables" is not to be confused with the word "consumables" which is widely used in the mechanical world. In welding for example, welding rods, tips, nozzles, gas, etc. are considered to be "consumables" as they only last a certain amount of time before needing to be replaced.

Materials

Disposable products are most often made from paper, plastic, cotton, or polystyrene foam.

Examples of disposables

Kitchen & dining products

Food service industry disposables

In 2002, Taiwan began taking action to reduce the use of disposable tableware at institutions and businesses, and to reduce the use of plastic bags. Yearly, the nation of 17.7 million people was producing 59,000 tons of disposable tableware waste and 105,000 tons of waste plastic bags, and increasing measures have been taken in the years since then to reduce the amount of waste.[1] In 2013 Taiwan's Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) banned outright the use of disposable tableware in the nation's 968 schools, government agencies and hospitals. The ban is expected to eliminate 2,600 metric tons of waste yearly.[2]

In Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, laws banning use of disposable food and drink containers at large scale events have been enacted. Such a ban has been in place in Munich, Germany since 1991, applying to all city facilities and events. This includes events of all sizes, including very large ones (Christmas market, Auer-Dult Faire, Oktoberfest and Munich City Marathon). For small events of a few hundred people, the city has arranged for a corporation offer rental of crockery and dishwasher equipment. In part through this regulation, Munich reduced the waste generated by Oktoberfest, which attracts tens of thousands of people, from 11,000 metric tons in 1990 to 550 tons in 1999.[3]

China produces about 57 billion pairs of single-use chopsticks yearly, of which half are exported. About 45 percent are made from trees – about 3.8 million of them – mainly cotton wood, birch, and spruce, the remainder being made from bamboo. Japan uses about 24 billion pairs of these disposables per year, and globally the use is about 80 billion pairs are thrown away by about 1.4 million people. Reusable chopsticks in restaurants have a lifespan of 130 meals. In Japan, with disposable ones costing about 2 cents and reusable ones costing typically $1.17, the reusables better the $2.60 breakeven cost. Campaigns in several countries to reduce this waste are beginning to have some effect.[4][5]

Medical & Hygiene products

Medical and surgical device manufacturers worldwide produce a multitude of items that are intended for one use only. The primary reason is infection control; when an item is used only once it cannot transmit infectious agents to subsequent patients. Manufacturers of any type of medical device are obliged to abide by numerous standards and regulations. ISO 15223: Medical Devices and EN 980 cite that single use instruments or devices be labelled as such on their packaging with a universally recognized symbol to denote "do not re-use," "single use," or "use only once". This symbol is the numeral 2, within a circle with a 45° line through it.

Examples of single use items include:

Electronics

Defense and law enforcement

Other consumer products

Environmental impact

The use of disposable products had led to a marked increase in trash and is a major cause of overconsumption. Some movements, such as landfill diversion, seek to combat disposable item overuse and the resulting trash.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Env. Research Foundation (undated). Taiwan’s Plastics Ban.
  2. ↑ China Post. June 5, 2013. EPA to ban disposable cups from June 1.
  3. ↑ Pre-Waste EU. (undated). Ban on disposable food and drink containers at events in Munich, Germany (Pre-waste factsheet 99)
  4. ↑ New York Times. Reus Oct. 24, 2011. Disposable Chopsticks Strip Asian Forests. By Rachel Nuwer.
  5. ↑ Ecopedia. 2013. How Wooden Chopsticks Are Killing Nature. By Alastair Shaw.

External links

Look up disposable in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
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