Green Options » take-out

Staying Green on the Go: Avoiding Eco-Guilt

Tara Benwell — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 17:56:32 +0000

While out for my monthly moms’ night out last week, I was disturbed by my own request for more salad dressing. With 1/3 of my lettuce remaining, I could have easily gone without. Before I thought better of it though, my extra dollop arrived in a plastic ramekin on a side plate with a paper doily for pretty presentation. Instead of enjoying the rest of my salad, I felt guilty knowing what Mother Earth had gone through to satisfy my need for a mere ounce of strawberry vinaigrette.

Being green is more difficult when you’re on the go, isn’t it? As my mom used to say, one of the hardest things in life is learning to just say no. Here are some of my new no’s for on the go:

Say no to receipts for things I would never take back

I use debit for almost everything and my purchases show up on my electronic bank statement. I’m not going to take back gas, or my daughter’s haircut, or the new crown on my dead tooth, so why do I need a receipt?

Say no to plastic bags for produce

I need five apples, four pears, and a bunch of bananas. Do I need three plastic bags as well? No. The clerk may get annoyed, and she will have to touch my fruit, but so did the teenager who stocked it and I’m planning on washing it well.

Chicago Restaurant Co-op Expands Use of Eco-Friendly Takeout Containers

Jason Phillip — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 22:09:22 +0000

So you’ve made the switch to reusable shopping bags, and you’re feeling pretty good about being able to answer the eternal grocery store question of “paper or plastic?” with a hearty “Neither!” But when you’re not doing the cooking at home, you probably don’t get a choice about avoiding much of the plastic packaging that keeps your food warm and safe on its journey from the restaurant to your home.

If you’ve ever felt a pang of guilt about how much garbage is created when ordering takeout, you’ve got good reason. All those disposable containers and plastic bags made from petroleum create an environmental impact that goes on long after you’ve enjoyed the last of your Pad Thai leftovers. According to one report cited on Treehugger, over 1 million plastic bags are consumed in this country every minute. How many of those bags wind up in landfills after one use or, worse, end up wreaking havoc on marine life in the world’s oceans, is difficult to calculate. But it’s a trend that has been on a troubling upswing for a long time.

To address this problem, an increasing number of restaurants and other food service providers have started to switch from petroleum-based plastic take-out items to compostable products made from renewable resources, such as corn (PLA) and sugar cane fiber (bagasse). One of the major barriers that restaurants face when switching to such bio-based containers, however, is a painful difference in cost.

For example, restaurateur Dan Rosenthal who runs casual-Italian minichain Sopraffina Marketcaffe in Chicago found that he would pay a heavy price to replace the 400,000 non-biodegradable plastic bags he went through each year. The switch would entail 7 cents more per bag, for a total of $28,000 every year.

Daily Tip: Reduce Your Fast Food Waste

Amy Stodghill — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 17:39:12 +0000

Do you really need all of those napkins, straws, forks, or packets of ketchup? Probably not. At least not that many. While convenient and hygienic, these small things add up to a lot of waste. The next time you stop in for a quick bite, cut back on the take-away of your take-out.

Reduce what you grab. Instead of taking handfuls, take just a few. One or two per person is usually sufficient.

Take-out. If you’re going home with your meal, let them know when you place your order that you don’t need utensils or napkins. New York City based activist group, Ecoagents, is trying to make this a widespread practice with their "Eco to go" campaign, which is helping restauranteurs (and their customers) reduce to-go packaging.

Dine in. If you’re staying say so. In many places you’ll at least be able to do without the to-go bag. In other places you’ll be able to eliminate your use of food packaging waste altogether.

Bring your own. Get in the habit of carrying around a set of utensils (along with your water bottle, coffee mug, handkerchief, shopping bag and napkin.) For take-out, bring your own container. GO’s Gavin Hudson takes a bread tin to his local mexican restaurant for them to pack up his burritos.

Amy says: I prefer to eat Chinese, Thai and Japanese take-out with chopsticks. But then I found out that disposable chopsticks use up a lot of trees, so I went out and got my own.

Related articles from GO:

Everyday Activism: Dining Without Disposables

Cut Back on Packaging with a Waste-Free Lunch

Eco-Effective Decisions: May I Have a Side of Food With my Plastic?

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