Do we really need disposable everything?

We have become a society that relies on disposable products and we rarely give much thought to it. From plastic water bottles, to lighters, to razors, we use it once or twice, throw it away and grab another. We thrive on convenience and disposable products are certainly convenient. They don’t have to be cleaned, maintained, or taken care of; however, as we all know, there is no free lunch. One thing we must ask ourselves, just how much more convenient does our appetite for disposable products make our lives?

Look at disposable razors. About two billion disposable razors are bought each year in the U.S. I would imagine that that same amount ends up in a landfill every year. That amounts to over 30,000,000 cubic feet of space in a landfill every year. This does not even take account of the resources that are required to manufacture disposable razors. Any way you want to look at it, that’s a lot of trash, is it truly necessary?

What are the alternatives? Compared the the alternatives does the use of disposable razors really save us anything in the way of time or add to our quality of life? Long before the typical plastic disposable razor came into being people used double edged razors (DE), before that straight razors were the norm. Let’s look at them.

Double Edged Razors (Safety Razor)

A DE razor is very similar to the standard disposable razor in look and usage. It has a metal (non-disposable) handle with attached head. Into this head a double sided blade is inserted. This blade is the only disposable part of the razor. It is nothing but a thin metal blade, no plastic or anything else. After a week of shaving you flip the razor around and shave with the other side. Once the blade is no longer sharp you toss it and load another. Cost per blade? About five cents each. Environmental cost? Being just one single thin metal blade, significantly less that the triple blade, plastic encased disposable. Quality of shave? Better that a disposable.

Are there any drawbacks to a DE? Yes, the initial cost is more, about $30 for a good one. The learning curve is a bit steeper. They are a bit trickier to use but once you get used to it that is no longer an issue. They also need to be maintained and that might take a whole five minutes per week to rinse, dry, and put away.

Straight Razor

I know what you’re saying. And yes, people actually still use these, I happen to be one of them. This is a completely non-disposable instrument that, with care, will last a lifetime. In fact, it can last a few lifetimes. Mine was made it the 1850s and still going strong. One can purchase a new, high quality razor for as little as $200. You can also buy a restored, shave ready razor for $40. If you feel adventurous you can by one in an antique store for $5 and sharpen it yourself. If you really want to go this route, however, I would recommend buying one that is already shave ready, save yourself lots of frustration and cuts.

So, what are the benefits of a straight razor? Long term cost for one thing. Spend $50 and never buy another blade. Nothing gets thrown into a landfill, nothing. The quality of the shave cannot be touched by a disposable, and believe it or not, it is a much more comfortable shave. The fact that you are only dragging one blade down your face and not two or three makes a big difference. Since you strop it before every shave, you always have a sharp blade at every shave.

The drawbacks? Steep learning curve. It takes about a week to really begin to get acceptable shaves and about one month to be comfortable with it. Remember, this thing is sharp and there is no safety on it!

Disposables

So, what are disposable razors giving us in return for their high environmental cost? At best, a savings of five minutes per week if you maintain a DE. Of course, if you have heavy facial growth like me you spend that five minutes per week trying to unclog the disposable so that’s a wash. And really, that’s about it. As disposables stand now, I really see no real advantage to using them.

Perhaps if the manufacturers were required to make them more recyclable things would be different. If they made them so that they could be returned to the manufacturer to have the blades replaced then all that plastic would not end up in the landfill. Put a deposit on them, when you return them to the distributor you get your deposit back any they reuse the plastic casing. Of course, no manufacturer is going to go this route voluntarily, what do they care about what goes into the landfill?

While disposable products can make life easier for us (cloth diapers anyone?), it is not always so, or at least not by enough to justify using them. Sometimes we get into this disposable mindset simply because we forget that there are other options out there. We don’t think about the environmental impacts of using disposables. I would simply not use cloth diapers on my kids, the convenience of disposables is huge. But when we weigh the benefits of convenience versus environmental impact for other disposables (razors, bottled water, cameras) it is not so extreme and perhaps a little sacrifice on our part is in order. Once you get started, you may even realize that the sacrifice wasn’t even all that.