Say “No thanks” to plastic forks in take-out
February 10, 2008 by Peggy
Getting take-out from a restaurant is generally a very unfriendly thing for the planet. Unfortunately, there’s usually a lot of Styrofoam involved. And even if there’s no Styrofoam, there’s often lots of other packaging.
Restaurants in several cities like San Francisco are required to use recyclable, biodegradable or compostable containers instead of Styrofoam, but not my city.
Yet, take-out is sometimes a good thing, like when Michael and I were both sick with colds on Friday night. Neither of us wanted to cook. And nothing we had at home sounded good anyway.
So, take-out it was. And when I opened the bag, I thought, “Now, there’s a blog post!”
Out came three sets of plastic forks and knives with paper napkins, all wrapped up in plastic. Well, unless the cat has started eating with a fork, that third set was a bit crazy.
If you are eating at home, isn’t it so much nicer to use real silverware? Also, cloth napkins are much better with messy food. They don’t crumple into nothing.
Here’s the tip:
The next time you order take-out, tell the person over the phone or at the window that you do not want plastic forks or wooden chopsticks, etc. (Well, that’s assuming you have some real chopsticks at home.)
Since some places like to staple up your bag with a receipt, it really is key to request that you don’t receive any unwanted items when you order. If you keep take-out menus at home, try adding a note about this.
Wonderful idea Peggy! I will start requesting no sporks! I never understood why they always give you one more set. And you are so right; most everyone goes home to eat take out.
On a side note, packing our daughter’s school lunch use to involve plastic ware, now she gets the real thing. Yes, she had an accidental drop into the cafeteria trash but that was only once in 2 years! A lot better than 450 spoons in a landfill.
Great idea I’ve been trying to do that for a few months now. I’ve noticed that there have been a few places I frequent that have started to ask me. Don’t know if it gave them an idea or what. You know the other good thing about it is it not only helps the environment but the saves the business money too. The less they give out the more they save.
Thanks for visiting Sean. I agree — why waste money.
I really think that we should stop using plastic forks and start using more potato forks because it’s not used with plastic!
Am happy to see anti plastics campaign gaining momentum around the world.
You may want to view and use a presentation made by me on the same topic and which has gained good momentum around the world.
The link to the same is http://ramjeenagarajan.blogspot.com/2008/06/say-no-to-plastics.html
also I’ve uploaded it as video file on you tube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bF7LgTL6rGU from where you could get the file linked to or downloaded and uploaded on your site.
If you wish to embed it on your site please do that using the following url code http://www.youtube.com/v/bF7LgTL6rGU&hl=en
Thank you.
With kind regards,
ramjee