I should go on the record right up front and state that I have never been a plastic utensil fan, so if the next few paragraphs come off anti plastic fork that is the idea. I have some good reasons for my dislike of plastic forks, knives and spoons the biggest of which is how poorly they work. Their usefulness it right up there with thin cheap paper plates.

I realize there are all types of plastic utensils you can buy. I also know that some of them are really sturdy but that just means they are made of even more plastic that we can't recycle. I also realize that the sturdy ones are the type some folks I know use and then wash and re-use as if they are real silverware. I ask you if you are going to wash and reuse a plastic fork why not just use a real one.

So why am I talking about plastic utensils and their use. Simple, it seems that we have all started using more since the COVID pandemic broke out. The increase in takeout food has caused an increase in plastic utensil usage. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC) posted to Facebook yesterday asking that we try to reduce waste while still supporting local restaurants. They asked that we opt-out on the single use utensils and even the single use condiment packets when we order. In other words say "No" to the straw, the plastic silverware and the mayonnaise packets you will probably are never going to use.

The hope is that as more people say "No" to the single use items the restaurants will get the message and instead only supply the items when the customer asks for it. The other logical part of that is most of us are eating our takeout at home, even having it delivered to the door. If we are at home we most likely have forks, knives, spoons ketchup and anything else single use that would get thrown into the bag.

It might seem like you saying "No" to the fork won't make a dent in the problem, but that's what they thought when we first started saying "No" to the straw.

 

 

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