Styrofoam, Plastic, or Ceramic?

I checked out a few sites discussing paper cups, styrofoam cups, and mugs.  I know we did not have to compare paper cups in the mix but I thought I'd include them anyway.  Environmentally, styrofoam cups are better than paper cups. 

On a blog i checked out, one guy said that he met with the head of purchasing for a very large fast food franchise in the UK to try to get them to move from using plastic coated paper cups to the squishy white foam type, which are apparently much greener.  He said that they knew that the change would make sense environmentally and economically, but that the public had the opposite perception and the marketing campaign required to educate their customers and offset the damage to the company’s perceived greenness would cost too much.

To protect the environment and reduce waste, many are suggesting that mugs are better than wasting tons of styrofoam.  Obviously the mug would seem like the better choice in terms of trash reduction, but quoting Lucy Siegle in an article on treehugger.com, I found quite the opposite was true in terms of energy usage.  "You would need to use your ceramic mug 1,600 times for it to break even, in energy terms, with paper cups."  This is due to the fact the kilns use and incredible amount of energy to fire the mugs (don't forget the energy your dishwasher uses to clean that mug after every use), as opposed to the quick and efficient recycling process. 

Having my own personal mug is definitely more enjoyable possessing than little dinky cups. I, as a consumer, will probably continue to cherish my quaint little colorful mug even if the energy cost is more than using styrofoam.  Parties or social events, however, could decided to use styrofoam cups as opposed to mugs or ceramics to save on energy.  Another example would be with wine tasting.  Rather than use glasses, use small recycle-able cups.