A ban like that sounds good. But what would replace those plastics? For the take-out food containers a common alternative is PFAS-treated paper. Is it much better for the health environment?
In Germany, I've seen a multi-use container system implemented by at least some delivery companies and restaurants.
But even just reducing the staggering amount of single-use plastics in regular restaurant/bar contexts in the US would be a start. The amount of restaurants serving plastic cups, paper plates, and plastic tableware is absurd, and I'm not talking about festivals, outdoor food trucks etc – regular sit-down places with proper plumbing and enough space for a dishwasher that really have no excuse whatsoever for generating that amount of waste.
> regular sit-down places with proper plumbing and enough space for a dishwasher that really have no excuse whatsoever for generating that amount of waste.
They have an excuse; they don't want to pay someone to wash dishes.
This is why a ban is necessary. Businesses will always look for the cheapest way to operate.
Sadly it looks like DeliveryZero is still using plastic. :( I'd really love to see some companies using non-plastic takeout containers, especially for hot foods.
But even with cold foods, every study that has come out has shown microplastic shedding even from water bottles.
Ugh I've been to other countries that have such bougie takeout containers, the shit we have here in the US is insufferable by comparison.
It is funny, sometimes a new Chinese restaurant HQ'd in China will open up locally, and they'll start off using the same high quality takeout containers that are used in China, including such things as every order comes in an insulated bag (!!) but eventually they bow to economies of scale and adopt the same shit takeout containers everyone else uses in the US.
Bleck.
I always think of when I went to Beijing, ordered a fruit soda, and they took out a real glass bottle, filled it up, sealed it, and gave it to me! 100% premo feeling.
> you just take the containers back to a drop point.
If someone drives to drop off the container they have uses way more resources than they would just using a disposable. I suspect this idea is just greenwashing.
> thicker paperboard
Which again uses more resources, and emits more CO2, than plastic.
You're assuming I'm driving it back to the drop point as a dedicated trip. A: I typically keep the containers until I order next time, you have a month to drop them off. So just drop them off when you're picking up your food. B: The drop off point is a short walk away, so you could just, you know, walk.
I'm not worried about resources or emissions here, I'm more concerned about trash in the rivers/oceans, and microplastics. There are more metrics to account for than you are allowing for.
> I typically keep the containers until I order next time
Don't them smell? If you wash them by hand you end up using more resources than if you had disposable. If you put them in a dishwasher then, I guess that would work, but seems like a lot of effort for takeout.
> I'm more concerned about trash in the rivers/oceans, and microplastics
Are you dumping things in the street? I suspect you are not. River/Ocean trash is a huge problem, and is not being caused in the US or Canada.
> Don't them smell? If you wash them by hand you end up using more resources than if you had disposable.
No. There is absolutely no way that rinsing out a container uses more resources than creating and transporting new disposable containers.
> Are you dumping things in the street?
I personally am not. I see plenty of people who are. I see plenty of trash in my local rivers and streams, so I'm not sure what you're basing your statement on.
> There is absolutely no way that rinsing out a container uses more resources than creating and transporting new disposable containers.
that's what i thought, too, until i did the math, and it turns out that i was wrong. rinsing out a bottle with hot water uses several times more energy than manufacturing a brand new plastic bottle from petroleum and transporting it (they're generally transported as preforms until the bottling plant, which keeps the costs down). in most cases, though, rinsing it out with cold water does use less
the high bit here, though, is not that you should stop using hot water to wash your dishes, or using reusable dishes. it's that the resource usage of food packaging is an irrelevant distraction from the real environmental devastation that's going on all around you
(actually no, the high bit is that you should base your beliefs and actions on objectively verifiable information and rational analysis rather than superstition)
Of course transport 10 tons of paper product has zero energy consumption according to Law of Newtonian Physics. More weight, less energy. We successfully keep the ocean clean, but all turtles are dead by stopping ocean current with global warming.
Mumbai has this solved, with the Dabbawala and Tiffin system. Tiffins are standardized reusable metal containers used for food delivery in Mumbai. The food can be restaurant takeout, or it can be a home-cooked meal someone sends you. Dabbawalas are the vendors who deliver the food, and collect the used tiffins/dabbas.
Before we had PFAS paper there was wax coated paper. So long as you aren't using something like paraffin wax, it'll happily decompose with the rest of your trash.
The focus needs to be on containers that decompose in weeks/months/a year. Not thousands of years.
