How businesses save thousands by replacing single-use plastic — Quartz qz.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from qz.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Why now is the time to move away from single-use disposables in restaurants
Today, much of institutional and fast-casual dining and virtually all takeout and delivery happens using disposable foodservice ware. And all those restaurant takeout containers, bags, boxes, condiment packets, plastic utensils, cold and hot cups and lids, and napkins add up. Approximately 700 billion disposable foodservice products are used each year in the United States.
Unfortunately, all these disposables come with costs costs to the environment from natural resource extraction to climate impacts to plastic pollution; costs to restaurants from the ongoing procurement and waste management of disposables; and costs to governments and taxpayers from solid-waste removal and litter cleanup.
Serving up carcinogens, hormone disruptors with school lunch ctmirror.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from ctmirror.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Nancy Kruse and Bret Thorn discuss the rising tide of environmental initiatives
Senior food and beverage editor Bret Thorn and food trend expert Nancy Kruse discuss the latest cultural trends in this column.
Nancy Kruse begins:
My inbox has been on the brink of collapse under the weight of press releases and media reports on the subject of restaurateurs’ burgeoning environmental initiatives, Bret. On May 3, to cite one recent example, The New York Times announced that the city’s vaunted Eleven Madison Park’s new, post-pandemic menu would be meatless, albeit at the old, pre-pandemic price of $335 per person including tip. At the same time and at the other end of the operating spectrum, Burger King revealed that it had begun testing new green packaging in 51 stores in the Miami area.