Toss or wash?
Make up your mind

By JUDY STARK

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 25, 2000

[Times photo: Patty Yablonski] The new generation of kitchenware: disposable storage containers and reusable paper plates.

Put the paper plates in the dishwasher. But throw away the reusable food storage containers.

Huh?

Those are two recent developments in the world of kitchenware: paper plates you can wash and reuse, and storageware that's so inexpensive you won't mind if it gets lost or tossed.

Dixie is about to introduce its Rinse & ReUse Disposable Stoneware. These are paper plates and bowls that can be washed up to 20 times in the dishwasher and can be microwaved at temperatures up to 250 degrees. The dishes, which come in solid blue, green and eggshell with an embossed edge, look like regular paper plates but are more rigid than paper and less porous than foam. You can cut on them without cutting through. They derive their strength and reusability from their content: 40 percent recycled/recyclable plastic, the rest ground stone. There's really no paper in these "paper" plates.

Do these things work?

I asked two friends to test the plates. "I was amazed," one said. "We used them for greasy, oily pizza, and I thought, "Yeah, right,' but we put them in the dishwasher and they came out fine."

Another friend tried microwaving on a plate, expecting that the high temperature would turn the plate limp. Not so.

I've tried the plates myself several times, on foods ranging from drippy black bean burritos to salads to sub sandwiches. They hold up well, they survive the dishwasher, and they come out looking like new.

The obvious question is, Why would we want to reuse paper plates? Why not just use them once and throw them?

Having a choice

"It's about having the choice," said Stephanie Gopp, a spokeswoman for Dixie, the manufacturer. "So many people order takeout for dinner, you might as well not bother with the dishes either," and those consumers might like to use attractive, heavy-duty paper plates that don't buckle under the weight or heat of food.

"If you have kids, you don't have to worry about the kids dropping dishes on the floor," Gopp said.

And if you can wash off a paper plate and reuse it, you're being thrifty and environmentally conscious. "If you do choose not to throw it away, you can put it in the dishwasher and hang onto it a little longer," she said.

If you really want to go the extra mile, the plates are recyclable (in category No. 5), so you can avoid filling up the landfill when you're ready to let them go.

A variety of sizes

The Rinse & ReUse dishware comes in several sizes: 11-inch plates (10 per package); 11-inch compartmented plates (10 per package); 9-inch plates (15 per package) and 20-ounce bowls (18 per package), at suggested retail prices from $1.99 to $2.50. They should be appearing in stores soon. Dixie's own heavy-duty paper plates are $1.99 for 48, or you can buy 100 Leisure Way paper plates for $1.39.

Dixie test-marketed the reusable stoneware in the small town of Liberty, N.Y., where residents said they used the plates to store leftovers and told Dixie, "You guys should make tops for them," Gopp reported.

Cutting losses

Speaking of storing leftovers, "Use it or lose it and don't worry about it" is the message some companies are trying to send with see-through storageware that's strong enough to reuse, cheap enough to throw away.

You've seen the commercials: A severe-looking Kathy Bates look-alike insisting that a trembling guy swear on his life that he will return her plastic storageware.

How many of us have lost a small fortune in Tupperware over the years? The kids take it to school and forget it. We carry something to a potluck supper and the container gets misplaced. We send home leftovers with friends and the plastic dish never returns. We take food to work or on a picnic and it's a pain in the neck to haul home the crusty empties.

Making food portable

The alternative to permanent storageware that's featured in that commercial, the Glad Co.'s GladWare, was developed out of studies that showed consumers were interested in making food portable, said spokeswoman Mary O'Connell.

"We watched people try to reuse deli containers and things like that that weren't meant to be used again and again, and realized: There's a need there."

Both GladWare and competitor Ziploc Containers are made from polypropylene, can be used in the refrigerator or freezer and can go in the microwave and dishwasher. GladWare has transparent lids. The lids on Ziploc Containers are transparent blue, a consumer preference based on aesthetics.

The question of longevity

Glad doesn't specify a particular lifespan for its product, but simply says it will withstand multiple trips through the microwave or dishwasher.

At the Ziploc Web site (http://www.ziploc.com), the company says its product is "not intended to last as long as more expensive containers," and notes that life span can be affected by how often an item is used and how it is used.

This stow-or-throw storageware functions as a bridge between plastic bags and permanent containers, O'Connell said. At Ziploc, sales appeal comes from its reusability "and the less expensive price for using containers in the kitchen," spokeswoman Therese Van Ryne said.

The containers can also be used for general storage: cosmetics and hair ornaments, small parts and pieces in the workshop, crayons, small toys, the contents of a desk drawer or junk drawer, craft and hobby items.

The disposability factor

The disposability factor allows the consumer the small luxury of simply dumping, container and all, something that has outstayed its welcome in the refrigerator. But "we do see a higher percentage of reusing than of tossing immediately," Ziploc's Van Ryne said.

Although there are no studies on this topic, McConnell said her anecdotal experience with her company's product is that it "cleans out very well," avoiding "the stain factor on the durables," i.e., the tomato-sauce stains that won't come out of the plastic storage containers no matter how you scrub.

When it finally starts to look worn and weary, consumers can dump it, feeling "you've got your money out of it," McConnell said.

The disposability of these products derives from the price point, i.e., they are so inexpensive consumers can throw them rather than wash or retrieve. Glad says its containers are recyclable in the No. 5 category of recyclables. This is different from plastic milk and soda bottles and it may be hard for consumers to find a repository that accepts them. Ziploc says its containers are not recyclable.

GladWare and Ziploc containers come in a wide range of sizes and shapes. GladWare is all priced around $2.49 for as many as five containers; Ziploc ranges from $2.49 to $3.59, depending on size and number of containers.

By contrast, a Rubbermaid one-quart EZ Topps plastic container at one supermarket recently was $3.49. The price was $1.99 for either a 7-ounce or a 13.5-ounce Servin' Saver, also by Rubbermaid.

Enter Gladware

If GladWare has just recently come across your radar screen (it's been on the market about two years), there's a reason: The First Brands Corp., parent company of Glad Products Co. was acquired a year ago by Clorox, which has been advertising it heavily.

GladWare, which beat Ziploc to the market with these containers, won a 1998 Edison Best New Product Award from the American Marketing Association for excellence and innovation in the category of food storage bags and containers.

Returning a dish "doesn't have to come between friends," McConnell said. She recalled that in years gone by, good manners dictated that the person who borrowed a dish never return it empty. If no one particularly cares if a container is returned, that social obligation is eliminated as well.

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