Reduce take-out waste

Factoids

• EPA: Packaging accounts for nearly 30% of all waste generated across the country.
• Ocean Conservancy: Takeout food containers and wrappers are the #2 most prolific litter on our beaches (2)
• United States consumes 500 million plastic straws every day. (3).
• 500 billion disposable cups are consumed every year (4) 
• Whether they hold soy sauce, ketchup, mustard, or some other liquid, all these packets are made out of plastic or an aluminum-plastic combo… nobody [is] recycling those right now…you’re better off throwing them in the garbage. (5)
• One, … globally humans buy a million plastic bottles per minute. The second, 91% of all plastic is not recycled. On top of that, it is estimated that over half a trillion plastic bottles will be sold in 2020. (6)
• Americans purchase about 50 billion water bottles per year, averaging about 13 bottles per month for every person in the U.S. (7)

Reduce, Ruse, Recycle, Recover

There are posters everywhere where I work indicating we should Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Recover before we toss anything into the landfill can. The thing I did not get, at first, was this list was in priority order. So if we are talking about plastic we want to reduce our use of plastic first, but if we have plastic we ought to reuse it as many times as we can, before we properly recycle it, and hopefully there is a market to recover the plastic for additional uses so it does not wind up in landfill. It really is all connected.

Delivery Packaging

When I order delivery, and yes I do this occasionally, I make sure to check the box to opt out of plastic utensils and napkins. After all, the food is being delivered to my house and I have spoons, forks, and healthier condiments right there. By checking that box, I am reducing waste. 

Single Use Plastic

Single use items are what take-out is all about, but waste minimization, according to experts, is more important than properly disposing of our trash. So I am looking at what I can do to limit my using “single use” items. One way I do this is by taking reusable containers, usually glass, for my lunch at work. I have my ceramic coffee cup I use to get my daily coffee from Rice and Bones. I refuse straws and have supplied metal straws to my family members who do. (Actually, I was not raised using straws so am not in the habit of using them anyway.)

Compost Packaging

A restaurant in my work building, Rice and Bones, is a little expensive, but it has exceptionally good food, and I am willing to pay more since they also pay attention to waste. For instance, all their take out utensils are compostable. Since we have compost bins in the building, we can compost everything easily enough, which is recovering what we used. However, my staff and I also reuse these spoons and forks several times by simply washing them and using them until they start to break apart.

Condiment Packaging

What is takeout without the multitude of little condiment packages? There is no way to recycle these packages.(8) Before, I use to save the ones I did not use and took them to work for us to use there. I now just say “no thanks” to these condiments, and will bring larger refillable containers of favorite condiments to work (like a mustard jar). By the way, a study was done and most of the packets (other than honey, salt, pepper) go bad within 9 months (9), I really thought they lasted forever.

Contaminated Recyling

Most food contaminated items, such as paperboard or cardboard with food oil stains, cannot be recycled. Pizza boxes for instance or polystyrene foam food packages, paper soda cups coated with wax, etc. I suppose we could take containers with us to restaurants and instead of asking for a “doggy bag” just put things in our containers. The likelihood of this catching on is probably not real high. (But, I have to admit that, as a poor college student, I would go to “all you can eat” places and bring my containers to fill and provide a couple of extra meals for myself….until I got caught. But that is another story.)

Single Use Water Bottles

The only water I buy in plastic is a large gallon container of distilled water for a medical device. Otherwise I use metal water bottles for water consumption at home or at work. I have a filter on my fridge so use its ice and water for everyday drinking. Boycotting the purchase of plastic bottled water is probably the most dramatic thing we can do to help the environment. Second, is to get a filter system at home, or use a Britta water filtration pitcher (also made of plastic of course), to reduce our plastic waste. Third, is to recycle every piece of plastic we can.

My happy-note to you is that these are things we can do something about. I will not speak of the dire state of our world without including things we can do that will make a difference. So if inclined, take a stance and do your part of cleaning up after ourselves. Every little bit of effort has great paybacks.

–Patty

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News: A recent study by Ghent University in Belgium found that people who regularly eat seafood ingest up to 11,000 tiny pieces of plastic each year. Another study by Plymouth University found that one-third of all fish caught in the UK contained tiny pieces of plastic.

Recipes: Lentil Salad with pomegranate balsamic vinegar, yum! Also added a Radish Green Slaw with cumin seeds. I know I am doing a lot of Slaw recipes, I am on a cabbage kick right now and am just enjoying the texture and flavors.

Articles: Just had my name mentioned at Kitchen on Fire’s Yelp reviews, the one dated 5/18/19. So unexpected and delightful to read: I’ve learned a lot from and truly enjoyed Kitchen on Fire’s 12 week Basics of Cooking program. Chef Olive, Chef Lev, Chef Kevin, Patty, and the rest of the team are wonderful cooks, teachers, and people. 

TIPS: When I have older garlic and it starts sprouting I have just chopped the little green plant up with the garlic and tossed in my dish. You can eat it, so in itself it causes no problems. However, the other day I actually tasted the green part and found that the sprouting plant tasted stronger and more bitter than the actual garlic flesh. I will still cook with it if it is the last clove I have for a dish, otherwise, I decided it is best to plant a sprouting garlic than eat it.