Food on the go
Plastic cutlery has invaded our lives and it’s everywhere. My eating experience with disposable cutlery is a bit pants. They invariably break when you eat, they are never big enough for the job and it smells of plastic. But it comes with pasta or salad boxes from most supermarkets & food courts.
Millions & millions of these end up in landfill. Like all other plastic items, they degrade very slowly and pollute our environment.
Scary statistics
- Plastic cutlery industry is worth $2.7 billion in 2021.
- Estimations are that there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050.
- 40 billion plastic forks, spoons & knives are used and thrown away each year.
- According to UK government's stats, England uses 2.7 billion items of single-use cutlery — most of which are plastic — and 721 million single-use plates per year, but only 10% are recycled
Most of the disposable cutlery ends up in landfill and they enter our rivers and seas. They cannot be recycled easily as the machines used for recycling reject the cutlery because of their dimensions. The diameter is small and the machines wrongly identify them as contamination.
What's being done?
Look at these great examples of how different countries & companies are tackling this issue.
- A new ban on single-use plastic plates, trays, bowls, cutlery and certain types of polystyrene cups and food containers will effective from October 2023 in England.
- On 3-July-2021, European Union banned 10 most commonly used single-use plastic items.
- An airline company, Hi Fly Aero, flew from Lisbon to Brazil without the use of single use plastics.
- Innovative solutions like edible cutlery is being developed. The Indian startup Bakey's make forks made out of sorghum and U.S. based company SpudWares has made them from potato starch.
Simplest solution
The simplest of all solutions is to carry your own set of cutlery from home with you. Reusing what you have is the most sustainable option. Eat with it and take it home & wash it.
In this post pandemic world, taking your own cutlery means no more contamination or germs. This will be eating out, germ free.
Eco gift: Cutlery pouch
To help with the carrying around of your cutlery, get one of these cutlery pouches. Made with “rescued” fabrics, these cutlery pouches will make sure your forks & spoons don’t rattle around in the bag. Invented by me, it’s a perfect addition to your day out.
