by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
Reusable metal cutlery is being thrown nowadays almost routinely into trash after picnics in parks and woods.
It would appear that people now buy metal reusable cutlery especially for picnics – the receipts often are with the cutlery in the trash – and then when the items have been used they simply toss them (often placed in plastic bags) rather than taking them home to wash them. This is stupid in the extreme.
While it may not be expensive to buy a set of six knives, forks and spoons, all nicely shining stainless steel, at places such as IKEA – in fact they are very cheap indeed – cheaper almost than plastic cutlery the point is to reuse those items rather than to toss them. That, however, seems to be a point that escapes those folks.
It seems as if people buy the metal cutlery feeling better than getting plastic and then still throwing the pieces after they have been used as if they were “disposables”.
Using reusable metal cutlery instead of plastic and then tossing the pieces into the trash when they have been used and are dirty makes absolutely no environmental sense whatsoever.
But it would appear that those who leave behind their, often newly purchased, reusable metal cutlery, believe that they do the world a favor by not using plastic and trashing that; so they go an trash reusable cutlery instead.
Yes, it is true that metal cutlery can be recycled much better than plastic and, if it does get into the ground ferrous metals, such as steel, rust and in time decay entirely, something that plastic does not do, but again that is not the point. The point is that those pieces of cutlery should, after use, be taken to be washed and reused.
I have to say that over the last couple of years I have amassed enough cutlery that people have thrown after picnics that I could equip a small cafe-restaurant with them. Not that they all would match, mind you, but that hardly matters.
© 2015
