What are you surprised people don't just buy?

This was about paying people at the price level that requires hiring a random person, not hiring professional movers. I'm pretty sure the $20 guy off of Craigslist isn't insured when he breaks your vases, and there's also a chance that if the move goes bad he'll just disappear (no fixed business address). I'm also pretty sure that there's nothing in practice keeping him from saying "okay, now that it's all on our truck we won't unload unless you pay us $300", at which point you either pay, or sue him while they have physical custody of all your property.

So, the same order of magnitude as spending $1000 on a dishwasher that lasts 10 years. Though of course in that case you also have increased water usage. And time taken to put things in the dishwasher and back on the shelves, versus time to get new disposable things out of their packaging. And space taken up by the dishwasher and your crockery shelves, versus space taken up by boxes of disposable crockery. Etc.

So, I dunno how these things balance out for anyone else, but to me it isn't clear that disposable dinnerware is a win even if we completely ignore the fact that it's less pleasant to eat off/with. For me, the latter is the decisive factor. Disposable cutlery is horrible to use in comparison with real cutlery. Disposable plates are horrible to use in comparison with real plates. Maybe I think these things only because some bit of my brain thinks disposable stuff is low-status, but for what it's worth it doesn't feel at all that way to me. I find disposable cutlery horrible because it flexes and breaks, and because it's usually too small. I find disposable plates horrible because the paper ones flex and the plastic ones break, and because they're usually too small.

You can use the water and soap you used to clean the plate for flushing out the first layer of crap out of the pan. Put the pan into the sink, then wash your plate. The water will end up in the pan. Your plate will most likely not be all that greasy compared to the pan.

Just stack several of them.

That would protect the table from getting dirty, but not your stomach from digesting melted plastic.

Come on, water is easily renewable and degradable. Plastic is definitely not and even though paper is recyclable, it costs a lot more energy than a fair amount of water and a drop of soap.

Paper.... cups?

This.

And their reply was....?