THE global fight to reduce the use of plastics is coming to restaurants, as Beyond Plastics, a civil action movement to fight plastic pollution from the US state of Vermont, has released a guide for eateries to reduce their dependence on plasticware.
"Everything plastics, especially those which are difficult to recycle – it should be out of the door," said Megan Wolff, Beyond Plastics policy director and author of the guide.
Beyond Plastics is part of the global Break Free From Plastic movement which spans over 11,000 organisations worldwide.
Nearer to home, Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) is a local organisation that's part of the movement, and whose senior researcher Mageswari Sangaralingam shares the same sentiments and insights into curbing the reliance on plastics.
Especially since the pandemic has brought about a new life cycle for plastics, as the increase in working from home has caused many households to rely on plastic packaging for food.
In addition to that, the dependence on face masks to protect against Covid-19, as well as other forms of personal protective equipment, is another area where there has been an increase in the use of plastics.
Mageswari hopes eateries here would take heed of relying less on plastics and for consumers to reuse their food containers instead.
Beyond Plastics president Judith Enck shared what they are trying to do back in the US.
Plastic pollution is one of the worst kinds of environment degradation – marking the world's consumerist greed and the public disregard for what is discarded, until it comes back to haunt civilisation when oceans and marine life die as a result.
The new guide called 'Hold The Plastic, Please – A Restaurant’s Guide To Reducing Plastic', from Beyond Plastics offers restaurants a detailed, practical, and inspiring advice for how to reduce the use of plastic in their operations and how to effectively convey those changes to customers, journalists, and the public.
“Industry research has found that the use of plastic makes consumers feel guilty, frustrated, and annoyed – precisely the opposite of what restaurant owners want their customers to experience. The majority of people surveyed also shared that they feel restaurants must do more to address the plastics problem directly,” said Wolff.
“Restaurants have a big role to play in addressing our plastic pollution crisis. We want to help restaurant owners and managers take the first step towards becoming part of the solution,” said Enck, who is also a former US Environmental Protection Agency regional administrator.
Absent business changes, it is also important for governments to adopt new policies that reduce the use of plastics and propel a shift to reusable and refillable food packaging.
"Many of those steps, such as not automatically providing a mountain of condiments and napkins and plastic straws with every take-out order, will also save businesses money,” said Enck.
As of 2020, the US plastics industry is responsible for at least 232 million tons of CO2e gas emissions per year and is on track to surpass the greenhouse gas emissions of the US coal industry by 2030.
Plastics recycling has been an undeniable failure, achieving an anaemic recycling rate of 5-6% in 2021.
About 40% of virgin plastic production is used for plastic packaging and about 30% of our waste stream consists of packaging.
The obvious solution to this problem is to reduce the creation of plastic packaging and single-use disposables.
Already, many eateries are choosing to either become plastic free, reduce their use of plastic, or eliminate single-use disposable items.
In doing so, these restaurants have demonstrated that they can decrease costs, grow their clientele, increase revenue, and make a real and vital contribution to the health of the environment. – The Vibes, July 29, 2022
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