The Waste Of Eating Out
All the packaging and food that is wasted when you choose to eat out. From the restaurant food you decided wasn’t worth taking home down to the unused plastic fork that got tossed out with the take-out, the amount of waste involved in eating out can border on the absurd.
This doesn’t mean eating at home exempts you from contributing to waste. It is, however, within your control. Here are some tips to manage your waste at home.
It’s no surprise that Americans are the world’s biggest producers of garbage. According to Elizabeth Royte in her book Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash, “Since 1960, the nation’s municipal waste stream has nearly tripled, reaching a reported peak of 360 million tons in 2002.” Interestingly, over the course of the same period the number of meals Americans ate in restaurants verses the number of meals they prepared and ate at home has risen nearly that much.
Think about the last time you went out to eat, got an oversized portion, and you decided it wasn’t worth it to take the leftovers home. The Mother Nature Network points out, when food gets wasted, it has more of an environmental impact than just ending up in a landfill. All of the resources used to grow the food, from the water used on the crops to the animal feed, have also been wasted. All of the energy used to transport the food also goes to waste.
According to the Dogwood Alliance, Americans use 15 billion disposable coffee cups a year, not to mention all the extra trimmings that come with it.
From The Art of Eating In:
The molded plastic tray came with a lid that, once popped off, served as the dipping bowl for sauces. The soy sauce and wasabi came in individually wrapped packets, as did the pickled ginger and the pair of disposable wooden chopsticks. On the tray beside the sushi was a small green piece of plastic film that was cut along one edge to resemble spiky grass. Everything came inside a plastic bag, along with a stack of napkins that I used less than half of.
When ordering take out, you’ll often receive way more napkins, ketchup packets, utensils, etc. than you know what to do with. Instead of saying no to these items, it’s commonplace to throw unused products away with the rest of the take-out trash.
According to No Free Refills, the average American eats fast food 150 times a year, and the fast food industry accounts for the majority of our urban litter. What’s more, the industry has played a large role in the deforestation of the U.S.’s Southern forest.
From The Art of Eating In:
Then there are the horrors of modern-day catering. When I was working at the publishing house, I ordered business lunches twice a week for meetings. It blew my mind how much stuff came along with them. I’d order the meal for the group and unload it in the conference room. A basket of paper-wrapped half sandwiches came wrapped in cellophane and decorative ribbons—an actual wicker basket of them. The wraps were wrapped in paper, and each sandwich half was speared with a wooden toothpick. The side dishes came in sturdy plastic serving bowls, with sturdy plastic serving spoons and tongs, some that were extra and never used, and a bowl of salad always came with three or four tubs full of different types of dressing (most barely touched by the end of the meeting). There was a large plastic platter of cookies, brownies, and other desserts, also wrapped in cellophane. Everything was thrown out after the meal—from the baskets to the tongs.
Filed Under: Environment
