Which is worse? Buying a wooden product made from unsustainable forest, or buying a product made of plastic?
Wood products made from unsustainable forests supports the harvesting of trees that will will not grow back.
However, the waste products from making plastic are toxic.. and it won’t biodegrade for many years. Which is worse?
It depends on the product. I can only think of toys, furniture and some housewares (dinnerware, shelves, picture frames, etc. ). With this context, stuff made from both would probably be non-recyclable (i.e., they would be single-use), so the durability and lifespan of use would be the deciding factors.
In the end, this would mean that the plastic is the worse of the two.
- From an environmental standpoint, plastic will take longer to degrade than wood.
- From a longevity standpoint, you are using nonrenewable wood for its specific properties that renewable wood is lacking or inferior, and would therefore build the item to last as long as possible. Plastic is more the low cost material option, as opposed to the durable material.
- Wood’s directional strength means you need to “overbuild” the item a bit to compensate for its structural weaknesses, adding to its survivability.
- Wood items would typically be “crafted”to be more aesthetically pleasing, while the plastic equivalent would be manufactured more plainly, for function rather than form. Thus the wood item contributes more to our enrichment, or the “living” part of green living.
- The wood products are also more expensive, typically, than their plastic counterparts, therefore recycling more cash in to our system, which means economies can rely less on plastic manufacturing to sustain their livelihood, increase the demand to find a way to make the wood renewable.
Source: yahoo answers
