Comparison of environment impact from Kulhar vs. Paper Cups vs.

Plastic cups
with 100% recycling
Kulhar is one-time use (disposable) unpainted and unglazed clay cup for
consumption of beverages. Kulhar is manufactured by heating the moist clay
shaped cups in a kiln at higher temperature. This process results in evaporation
of moisture and fusing of salts, minerals. Due to this, biodegradability of the
Kulhar will be very low compared to paper cups. It takes more time than the
paper cups to disintegrate in nature. Basic ingredient required for manufacturing
Kulhar being topsoil, these can be manufactured everywhere. Generally, these
Kulhar are manufactured in village as a source of secondary income. Excessive
production of these would lead to depletion of top soil and loss of fertile land.
Kulhar weigh heavy compared to paper or plastic cups. Transportation of these
units to various parts of the country would lead to higher carbon foot print on the
environment. Economically rural population gets benefited financially but at the
cost of cultivatable land.
Key components of paper cups are paper/woodchips, polyethylene resin or wax
coating liner. Paper cups are used as disposable onetime use items. Generally,
paper cups are not recycled due to the coating of polyethylene resin on the inner
bottom surface. A special process is needed for separating the plastic coating
and the paper. This process is not cost effective and manufacturing new paper
cup works out to be cheaper. Higher usage of paper cups results in tree felling
and loss of forest lands. Biodegradability of paper cups is also not high due to the
presence of plastic coating. Hence it is not advisable to replace all form of cup
usage to paper cups.
Disposable plastic cups are made of polystyrene, which is a possible health
hazard as chemicals may leach into the beverage. Plastic cup takes up to 90
years to degrade, depending on the type of plastic used. Production of 1 tonne
plastic cups emit upto 61 kg of greenhouse gases. If these cups can be recycled,
then we save on usage of paper cups resulting in reduction of forest land which
can take care of the emitted greenhouses.

Considering all these factors it is advisable to use plastic cups with high degree
of recycling operations.