Dipping My Toes into Sustainability

So my first week of Sustainability, Society and You from Future Learn has given me the following three poll questions:

1.  Which is better for the environment - incineration of waste, or disposal via landfill?
2.  Which do you think is more sustainable? Drying your hands with hot air dryers or using paper towels?
3.  If you have the option of using a dishwasher, do you think it is more sustainable than washing up by hand?

These are tough questions, and we're asked to justify our reasoning.

My answers are:
1. Incineration. It seems a little counter-intuitive, but I honestly believe it's the better choice.

Landfill is an enormous problem. While incineration can cause air pollution (mostly in the form of CO2), it can be done relatively close to the source of the waste production, and impurities can be scrubbed out of the air before the waste gases are released, whereas waste has to be transported to the landfill site (non-filtered fumes from the transportation) where it is then buried, poisons the water table due to toxins which leach out of the waste, and creates methane, which is one of the worse greenhouse gases. Carbon dioxide is a pussy compared to methane. Seriously.

2. Hot Air Dryers.

Less energy goes into heating the air in a hot air dryer than goes into the production, transportation, sale and disposal of a paper towel. It is also cheaper to run over the course of a year than to supply paper towels for the same amount of time, so it makes awesome business sense. Remember the cradle-to-grave cycle. There's no guarantee that paper towel is going to end up in a place where it can biodegrade, and there's an awful lot of water that goes into the production of paper. Being an Aussie, I have a healthy respect for water consumption.

3. Washing up by hand.  Yeah, I know there are water-saving models of dishwashers and stuff, but really?

Washing by hand allows you to control the amount of water that is used in each wash. You are also more able to control the heat of the water rather than just having all that heat pumping in willy-nilly. You are not as limited by the space of a dishwasher... you are able to wash as many dishes as you want in the one batch of water (although grunge is grunge, and it does build up, you hear what I'm saying?) So, less water, less electricity, potentially more dishes... you do the math.


So, are you tempted to pick different answers? If so, why?