by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
Refuse the plastic knife, fork or spoon; carry your own real cutlery.
You go into any kind of deli or food bar and – invariably – especially for takeouts you get presented with – often you haven't even got the choice to refuse – plastic flatware of various kinds, none of which, in general, are biodegradable and all which use resources.
While those knives, forks and spoons can – theoretically and practically alike – be washed and reused they do, invariably, in most case, end up in the trash, and in the main this will be in the landfill where they will nigh on never degrade.
If you know that you will be getting stuff to eat out from delis and such why not bring your own KFS-set. There are the camping and the military versions that clip together or, alternatively, get some small sets – airline sets can sometimes be had – and then make a snazzy pouch for them and have them on you. That's the environmentally friendly way, In my view.
The biggest problem is to be able to – actually – refuse the plastic flatware for, as I have said already, often you do not even get asked as to whether you want the flatware in the same way as there are still stores that just pack your purchase into a plastic carrier bag whether or not you have asked for it.
If you then say “but I don't need a bag; I've got my own” they get all on a high horse with “we always pack into bags” or something like that.
We need to demand to have the option and it should be “Would you like some flatware” or “would you like a bag” and not the automatic inclosure of flatware with the stuff or the automatic giving of a bag.
Not only consumers need educating, I guess. Retailers and other outlets too.
Over the years I have collected a number of knifes, forks, though not that much on spoons, from airlines. Not because I've flown a lot but because the caterers for the airlines near the airports seems to be dropping them off their trucks coming back from the airport rather frequently. Thank you very much, is my response to that. The more the merrier. So, hence, I nowadays carry my own knife and fork that is ex-airlines; not from one single one but two different ones but, who cares...
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