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)

Rental Recycling Hero and Eco Friendly Office Calendars for 2009

Peter Grazzini of Perfect Settings in Landover, MD really gets it. While the party rental industry is inherently green since equipment is used over and over again, it still has wasteful aspects such as all the plastic - shrink-wrap, bags and sheeting) and cardboard.

Peter now offers a service where he picks up plastic and cardboard from clients which he bales and then sends to a recycling center. He also offers recycling containers that his clients can rent and use for recycling cans and bottles.

To read more about what Peter and others in the event industry do to be green, read the November 2008 edition of Special Events magazine, Event Industry Adopts Greener Practices.

Green Tip:
Eco Friendly Office Calendars for 2009

You can be Earth friendly while planning out 2009! The House of Doolittle has been a manufacturer of desk pads, calendars, and appointments books since 1919. Currently the paper used for their products is recycled with 30% to 100% post-consumer fiber. I get my Weekly Appointment Planner from them as well as my Yearly Planning Calendar.

Useless Tschaches and Useful Tschaches

My apologizes to those in the promo item business, but if I receive one more useless gift/favor/tschache, I'm going to send it back to the provider with a friendly note encouraging them to think of the environment the next time they purchase a plethora of these things.

Not too long ago, I received a stress "ball" in the shape of a dollar sign from a not-to-be-named vendor encouraging me to contact them if my dollars were feeling squeezed. Cute. Original. But what am I going to do with this after I've used it a few times (I think I've used it once so far). How do you recycle these things? I'm confident all of these dollar signs will end up in the landfill. What a shame. In the meantime, I'm researching a way to recycle mine...

Green Tip:
Useful Tschaches

When thinking of a way to promote your business or event or to thank your guests, think of the Earth first. Ask the following questions:

• Is it useful?
  
• Is it made of recycled materials?
  
• When the time comes to dispose of it, can you recycle or compost it?
  
• Is it being shipped from a location nearby or halfway around the world?
  
• What kind of packaging is used to ship it?
  

If you are looking for an Earth friendly item, contact my friends at PromoVision who gave me a bunch of great gift ideas that are easy on the Earth

• tote bags made of hemp and/or cotton
  
• t-shirts made of organic cotton
  
• pens made of biodegradable corn or recycled material
  
• pencils made of actual tree twigs (fallen twigs or agricultural waste)
  
• a greeting card that comes with a 2-way envelope with pre-paid return postage so that when the recipient is finished with the card, they can send it back to the manufacturer for reuse in creating new cards
  
• biodegradable and compostable cups with logo
  
• flash drive made of 100% recycled plastic