Takeout Food for the Office and Facts on Holiday Waste

As a vegetarian and a locovore (someone who tries to buy local), I try to make as many meals at home as possible. However, last Monday when I was out shopping, I stopped by the local PF Chang's for some takeout before I journeyed back to the office because I was low on food in the office fridge.

Normally, when I do any kind of shopping, I BMOB bring my own bag. The one exception has been when I get takeout. I keep making a mental note to BMOB, but have continued to fail on this front. Also, I just read an article about a green office that leaves those little tiny sacs which are the size of a small ball at the front desk for employees to use when they get takeout. Well, I couldn't be outdone, so I've made it my mission to begin this practice and I began on Monday!

When the take out guy waited on me, I sweetly asked, "Do you mind putting my order in this bag?" He didn't blink an eye. Whew! Let's hope behind that pleasant smile, he wasn't thinking I was a crazy environmentalist. I also asked him to not worry about the plasticware and some of the condiments. When he brought my order in my own bag - in my own bag - I was ecstatic and handed him a tip. I didn't look in the bag until I got in the car. Big mistake. It contained not only chopsticks, but plasticware and TWO sets of condiments. Argh! Did he do this to irritate me or was he on automatic pilot when he was loading my food into the bag? I'll never know. I emailed PF Chang's headquarters to tell them about my experience (I was nice about the quick service and the ability to use my own bag), but chastised them for all the waste with the condiments. Think of all the energy that goes into making those chopsticks, the plastic ware, the condiments and the containers they come in. Think of how many get thrown away without being used. Think of all those products in the landfill. Think of all that money wasted. I hope they change their ways...

Green Tip:
Facts on Holiday Waste

Below are some facts on holiday waste that I received from Eva at Earth Alley, a Baltimore gift shop that provides Earth friendly, fair-trade, locally-sourced gifts.

From Thanksgiving to New Years Day, household waste increases at least 25%, an additional 1 million tons a week. U.S.'s annual trash from gift-wrap and shopping bags totals 4 million tons.

Christmas Trees
50 million Christmas trees are purchased in the U.S., about 30 million go to the landfill.

Food
28 billion pounds of edible food are wasted each year - over 100 pounds per person. One less cookie on Santa's plate will reduce his snacking by about 2 million pounds.

Transportation
If each family reduced holiday gasoline consumption by one gallon (about twenty miles), we'd reduce greenhouse gas emissions by one million tons.

Cards
1.9 billion Christmas cards at this time, the amount of cards sold during the holiday season would fill a football field 10 stories high, and requires the harvesting of nearly 300,000 trees.

Ribbons
38,000 miles of ribbon is thrown out each year, enough to circle the Earth which is 25,000 miles.

Paper
Half of the paper America consumes is used to wrap and decorate consumer products.

(Sources: EPA; Use Less Stuff, 1998; www.recycleworks.org; Cygnus Group; Recycler's Handbook, 1990; Environmental News Network)