ceramic vs.paper

Being a mug collector I thought I was doing my part for the environment, even if the mug was used just a handful of times.

I was wrong, I am doing my part, but the mug needs to be used a LOT more than a few times.

Check out this blog that discusses how many reuses equals the energy in making and disposing of a disposable cup:

Amazon Daily

Specific details of one research study gave this:
To break even with a Paper or Foam cup (the foam cup is much more efficient peruse in general) the following would need to be used this number of times:

Uses to break even with average energy per use with Paper Cups used once:
Ceramic 39 times
Plastic 17 times
Glass 15 times

Uses to break even with average energy per use with Foam Cups used once:
Ceramic 1006 times
Plastic 450 times
Glass 393 times

Source: Hocking, Martin B. "Reusable and Disposable Cups: An Energy-Based Evaluation." Environmental Management 18(6) pp. 889-899.