China's War On Disposable Chopsticks

Daniel K. Gardner in the LA Times::

China's Ministry of Commerce, together with five other ministries, issued this warning in June: "Companies making disposable chopsticks will face local government restrictions aimed at decreasing the use of the throwaway utensil.... Production, circulation and recycling of disposable chopsticks should be more strictly supervised."

With summer floods devastating southern, western and northeastern China, a massive oil spill smothering the Yellow Sea off the port of Dalian, 3,000 barrels of chemicals bobbing aimlessly but threateningly in the Songhua River in the northeast, and nearly half a million newly registered cars -- just since January -- on Beijing roads spewing who knows how much additional carbon dioxide into the air, you may think that the government is unnecessarily overreaching in waging a war on the disposable chopstick.

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Comments

[Chaling]

04:45 PM on 08/20/2010

I always tuck the disposable pair into my shirt-pocket after a meal with chopsticks in a restaurant and later use them for hobby stuff, mis-drill hole plugs, paint-stirrers, and they also are great to push things around with in the aquariums without having to put my whole hand in.

[Puffin16]

04:15 PM on 08/19/2010

I eat sushi once or twice a week, and I never gave any thought to the disposable chopsticks I use. I'm going to buy reusable and just say no to the disposables for now on.

I'm still working on my condo complex - they have dumpsters but no recycling...hard to believe in this day and age.

[SneathLane]

09:39 PM on 08/18/2010

The Chinese apply basic arithmetic to solving lots of serious environmental problems. The U.S. government can't seem to use arithmetic for anything but measuring corporate profits, unfortunately.

[Uproar]

04:58 PM on 08/18/2010

Very interesting story. I have a few pairs I use at home, that are wooden, but washable. Why can't restaurants serve the reusable kind? Most thai and chinese places use the disposable kind.

[deweydecimal]

09:40 PM on 08/17/2010

I prefer the stainless steel chopsticks that Koreans use.

[Aranxa]

05:26 PM on 08/17/2010

Great, one more thing to feel guilty about.

[Iacobus]

11:16 AM on 08/17/2010

I'm sorry but this article is a bit snarky and, frankly, I'm not sure how anyone could do anything other than support the effort to get rid of disposable...well...anything. China is fast overtaking the US in the development and production of green technologies. They made a big mess really quickly over there but they are also going to be able to clean it up much more quickly than we can. If they can eliminate such a blatant source of waste and pollution, why on earth shouldn't they? "Unnecessarily overreaching?" Really? You'd have to be in denial to come to that conclusion.

[JennaS]

10:33 AM on 08/17/2010

When my husband and I learned about the amount of trees cut down in China and Japan for chopstiks...we were shocked. So, we no longer ask for chopsticks for delivery or when eating in...we bring our own bamboo ones. It is such an easy thing to remember to do that you know you are are a piece of the puzzle in helping the environment. Start talking with your favorite restaurants and let them know your preference and maybe you can start encouraging them to use alternatives.

[satanlite]

07:19 PM on 08/17/2010

I've done the same for a long time with chopsticks. Years ago it struck me how that little chopstick x numbers of meals = a bunch of f**k*n chopsticks. Like plastic forks and knives. An incredible waste of resources for a very very very minimal benefit. I'm glad people seem to be paying attention. 20 years late (or more), but better late than never.