My wife and I are having a friendly argument and I need the Dope to help me out. Here’s the situation: when cooking stuff, I frequently like to line our pans with a sheet of (100% recycled) aluminum foil. Then after dinner, whip off the foil, toss it and voila! Clean up in 3 seconds. (In actuality I always briefly rinse the pan as well).
My wife contends that this is not environmentally friendly, because we don’t need to use the foil. We can just wash the dishes and save the aluminum. I countered that she may be saving aluminum, but is wasting water (and soap, I suppose) washing those pans, which often have a lot of stuff stuck on and take a while to wash properly. And by buying recycled aluminum, I am in my tiny way encouraging the recycling of aluminum (this sounds bogus even to me, but I’m trying to win an argument here).
So, that’s the question: which is more “wasteful” - using foil to line the pans and skipping the washing or just washing the pans?
Minor note: for the purposes of this argument, assume that “just stick it in the dishwasher” is not an option, so keep that advice to yourself. This is science I’m talking about!
If you throw it away, it’s probably better to wash the pan - Aluminum manufacturing is very energy and water-intensive.
If you recycle it, it’s probably slightly better than washing.
We use aluminum to line the baking sheet when my wife roasts vegetables. The foil is usually fairly clean, but greasy, and I just wad it up and throw it into the recycle bin.
A small amount of food isn’t going to hurt the aluminum - I think the admonition to not throw food into the recycle bin is to keep the paper products clean.
Well, yes, but I am buying recycled aluminum, thereby helping the market for recycled aluminum. It’s a stretch, I know, but not completely false, right?
I have no objection to recycling my used aluminum foil. I would, in fact, be delighted to do so. I just thought I wasn’t supposed to because it’s not clean enough.
All recycling rules are local. They depend on the age of the equipment and the technology available where the recycled materials are to be sorted, sold, and processed. It’s annoying to see all the web sites making blanket statements about what can and cannot be recycled as if there were uniform world-wide laws governing such things.
Don’t depend on what you read on the web unless it was posted there by the entity that runs your local recycling program. Check with your recycling program operator. But, there is no global rule preventing the recycling of dirty aluminum foil, within reason.
I think using aluminum foil is just convenient, and ultimately a waste … we won’t have to wash the pan afterwards is all … and it’s fairly trivial washing the pan in context of the nightly dishes … but of course how green is your water supply? …
The biggest ecological disaster may well be the pan … making iron is hard on the environment and whether or not to use aluminum foil seems a little beside the point …
So, I’ll offer as a factual answer that your wife is right, just because … give her a kiss for being so smart and see what happens …
Recycled aluminum (cans, foil, whatever) eventually gets melted down into molten aluminum to be made into new products. Any food waste left on your aluminum foil is not going to survive that melting process. Just like the soda pop drops left inside the can, or the label painted on the outside.
Regarding the ‘greener’ option, one of the bigger factors (but not mentioned so far) is the energy required to heat your wash water (assuming you wash with hot water). Personally, I let crusty pans like that soak in cool water (sometimes overnight). Then it’s much easier to wash them, and is much faster, using less hot water.
Fill the pan with water and leave it overnight. In the morning, you can wipe it clean with your fingers or a dishrag. Whether you then wash it with soap is up to you, I just leave the patina of grease in there, which recycles from use to use.
Yep, we do soak pans when we don’t use aluminum foil, so I am well aware of this option. But the wife doesn’t like letting dishes sit in the sink, so it’s also not her preferred option and is getting us away from the “which option is more environmentally friendly” question into a third option. I hope this doesn’t sound snarky, because I don’t intend it to be, but I’m not really looking for pan-washing advice here, I’m looking for facts
And I’m happy to have learned that I can recycle my used foil, so that’s already a win for me.
This is basically crying over spilled milk. The pan has already been made and any environmental degradation from that making has already been done. It’s no use pointing out how bad that was unless they’re contemplating buying a new one. So unless it’s shedding some toxic material into the waste water, they may as well keep using it.
Seems like the issue here is putting aluminum into the waste stream vs. using water & soap.
The argument against using soap and water is, IMHO, a thin one. I go by the “economic value” test. People talk about water being a scarce resource, but if it were really scarce, it would be expensive. Where I live, water is about $0.0111 per gallon (water + sewer). This cost is a surrogate for environmental impact since it includes waste water treatment to safely return it to the environment. If I spend 1/2 cent (or even a full cent!) washing a pan, I don’t feel like I’m wasting a precious resource.
A quick Google shows that recycled-aluminum foil can be had for around $0.06/sq. ft. With the foil you are using more-expensive resources; the fact that it’s recycled mitigates only the impact of mining and extracting the aluminum, not the impact of reclaiming it; you have the environmental impact of manufacturing the finished product, plus you are putting (practically) nondegradable material into the waste stream.
Using recycled aluminum is better for the environment than using virgin aluminum, but using no aluminum at all is even better.
I was gonna say this. I use paper too. I’m pretty sure it’s not real parchment paper, it is recycled, brown paper for pan lining. It keeps pans relatively clean, no stuck on bits at all and is easier on my trash load. We don’t have pickup out here in the woods. So that’s my concern. If I do use aluminum foil I put it in with my recycling. I have to take it to the center myself and they have never told me there was too much food waste in it. I think if you recycled your foil after use you would be right. Otherwise your wife is right.
This is science I’m talking about!
