stories:
The Ten
How Green Is Your Takeaway Container?
Common carriers rated for ecofriendliness
Your food can’t go everywhere exposed to the elements; it needs packaging. Unfortunately, that packaging often takes massive amounts of energy to create, and much of it doesn’t properly decompose. We’ve rated some common carriers on a scale from 1 (bad) to 5 (good).
1. Styrofoam (Rating: 1). Ubiquitous clamshells for restaurant leftovers, hot-and-sour soup containers, coffee cups at PTA meetings.
The bad news: All research shows that Styrofoam becomes a permanent part of our environment after we use it. Information on the health risks of styrene, which is used in the production of polystyrene plastics and resins, can be found on the EPA website.
The good news: Many cities are passing laws that require restaurants to discontinue use of all Styrofoam products. And the options are getting better.
2. Plastic (Rating: 2). Soup, deli salad, and yogurt containers; big soda cups at convenience stores; ice cream sundae dishes.
The bad news: Plastic is made from petroleum, a resource in short supply. Plus, many of the chemicals used to produce plastic resins pose serious health risks. Recycling helps a little (check to see if your city accepts plastics, and what types), but there is still significant pollution in the production to consider.
The good news: Reducing and reusing can lower the quantity of plastics being produced. But you probably shouldn’t reuse these containers more than a few times: Potentially harmful chemical compounds have been shown to “migrate” from the plastic into your food, particularly if you’re microwaving the container.
3. Paper or Plastic Bags (Rating: 3). The grocery store, the farmers’ market, the drugstore, your favorite takeout lunch joint.
The bad news: Both are pretty environmentally unfriendly. A lot of technical information needs to be weighed when coming up with a definitive answer to which is more green, including recycling rates in your city and the pollution, waste, and energy used to create the bags. The best answer when asked “Paper or plastic?” is “I brought my own canvas bag.”
The good news: Like plastic containers, plastic bags can be reused as garbage bags, lunch bags, etc. Since a tax was introduced in 2002, Ireland has seen a 95 percent reduction in its plastic bag use. Other cities are putting in place similar taxes or banning plastic bags altogether. Paper bags have a shorter life span but can be recycled in many cities.
4. Cardboard Boxes (Rating: 3). Leftover hash browns from brunch, takeaway salad bar from Whole Foods, Chinese takeout, birthday cake in the office break room.
The bad news: Many cities don’t have a composting system that can take food-soiled paper products. A lot of paper products still contain chlorine or bleach, which can be harmful to the environment if it ends up in landfills. And more chemicals are emitted from the paper mills than from the paper itself.
The good news: Cardboard that has not been contaminated by food can be recycled along with other papers. (This is preferable, as it can be made into more paper.) But if you can’t recycle it because it’s got food on it, many cities have composting programs that will take your dirty cardboard. Or if you’ve been composting it at home, give it away directly to farms, gardens, and landscaping companies.
5. Bioproducts (Rating: 3). Bioplastics manufactured from starchy agricultural by-products; Bagasse plates made from plant fibers such as sugarcane-, wheat-, bamboo-, and rice-based pulps; SpudWare potato-based cutlery; and a growing number of brands of corn-based tableware.
The bad news: Most need special conditions and facilities to biodegrade or be composted, and, like plastics, require energy and scarce resources to produce. When you mix bioproducts in recycling systems, it creates a sorting nightmare and can leave entire batches of recyclable plastic useless.
The good news: There is a vested consumer interest in seeing more alternatives to plastic, and better options are being introduced and adopted by restaurants at a rapid clip.
6. Aluminum Foil (Rating: 4). Wrapping for your burrito, naan, falafel, roasted corn on the cob.
The bad news: It takes energy to extract and process the metal. And though aluminum is in abundant supply, no resource is infinite.
The good news: Aluminum and its alloys can be melted and recast again and again. Check to see if your city’s recycling program accepts aluminum. At home, you can wash and reuse foil. If aluminum makes it to the landfill, the metal eventually will oxidize, returning to aluminum oxide without the emission of gas or pollutants.
7. Recycled Paper Products (Rating: 4). Some cardboard boxes for salads and leftovers; some napkins and paper towels that come with your takeaway food.
The bad news: There is no labeling process to let consumers know how much of a product is actually recycled material. Ideally, it’s made of 100 percent recycled paper, which means that no trees were cut down to make it. Anything less than 100 percent means the unrecycled content came from virgin trees.
The good news: Making recycled paper requires fewer chemicals than making unrecycled paper. It also saves energy, uses less landfill space, saves trees, and reduces pollution in the water and air.
8. Edible Containers Made from Food (Rating: 5). The bread bowl your chowder comes in, ice cream cones, tortilla bowls for taco salad.
The bad news: An edible container may come on a paper plate or other disposable product, thereby negating the benefit of using food to hold food.
The good news: If it’s the only thing that’s put in your hands, it eliminates a lot of waste. If you can’t finish it all, the pigeons will.
9. Inedible Containers Made from Food (Rating: 5). Banana leaves holding your dim sum rice item or your Indian thali; the corn husk wrapped around your tamale.
The bad news: As with the edible container, an extra plate or bowl may be given out for serving or transporting.
The good news: They’re entirely compostable and nonpolluting, and they can be used both to cook and to transport food.
10. Bring Your Own … (Rating: 5). Canvas bags at grocery stores, Mason jars at some microbreweries and tea salons, coffee mugs at the local java house, Tupperware at the salad bar.
The bad news: There are few negatives. Just remember: It’s got to be very clean if you’re going to ask a restaurant to handle it.
The good news: Many grocery stores offer discounts for bringing your own bag. There’s no waste. You feel good about yourself. It’s fun.
CHOW’s The Ten column appears every Tuesday.
Hooray for Chowhound for talking about this. We eat, but we still must contain what we eat. How we do so is important. Best, IMHO, is at home on washable dishes, after that...well it's a crapshoot. I'd go for things that can biodegrade (cardboard) or things that can be recycled (in my area aluminum foil can be recycled : wash and crumple. Stryo clamshells, I hate. I'm a new fan of bring-your-own, pack-your-own.
Cay
hear hear
Yeah Chowhound!!!
#10 - it's an interesting concept, but is it realistic? Specifically, will restaurants, delis, salad bars, etc. actually allow customers to bring their own containers to pack leftovers or takeaway? I would think there might be liability issues that would make them reluctant to comply.
It's challenging enough training oneself to carry shopping bags when going to the grocer (I keep getting caught out when I don't expect to go to the groger but stop in on my way home from work); I can imagine it would be even harder to always carry containters when dining out in case there are leftovers.
oh THANK YOU for running these ratings. i for one am very grateful and feel --well still insane, but less isolated in trying to bring up the dang packaging issue.
Allstonian-- many many indie coffee houses give a discount if you bring your own mug. delis and take-aways are starting to encourage byo packaging as well, perhaps in your area too! packaging costs are way up and are affecting food prices in a way they did not a few years ago. just expect to package your own leftovers, it's probably against local health code for your server to bring outside dishes back into the kitchen/food prep area. sure it's not "realistic" in every single instance, but it is a way to work at being greener on an individual level (esp if you like takeout & deli food a lot!)
Keep in mind that acidic foods might react with foil and cause a metallic taste...not good. Otherwise, I think the biggest hurdle in implementing the most eco-friendly choice (BYOContainer) would be how it'd look...there's almost an uncool factor in the current world that would stymie most people from implementing this.
eefoodgeek, I have to point out that so many things we are doing in the world today would seem extremely "uncool" to our parents or those before them. I will go to the other end of this and say that bringing your own container may be very cool, very soon.
Hell, look at all the canvas sacks emblazoned with a (name your store's) logo. Just one more step for the containers.
Don't worry about "how it would look." Encourage others not to worry about it either. Cay
Soupkitten - thanks for your thoughtful comments. I rarely get coffee to go nowadays (I have a 4-cup coffeemaker in my office and make my own daily coffee) but I do try to use travel mugs when I can. I avoid takeaway coffee in places that have foam cups rather than paper because foam cups make the coffee taste bad to me.
In Boston, I don't know of any deli or takeaway that would allow me to bring my own container. Again, this would involve a food handler putting my container in their food prep/serving area, on their scale, etc., and I can't believe that that would be in compliance with local health codes when restaurants are cited regularly for using non-certified containers for their own products in storage. Heck, it's still extremely difficult here to get baggers in shops to use my totes, especially in the small ethnic markets. I do try as much as I can, but we're a long, long way from bring-your-own containers here.
Also, as a consumer I don't have much control over the vendor's choice of container - the ubiquitous foam clamshell may be bad, but if that's what my favorite Chinese restaurant puts their takeaway in, I'm kind of stuck. I am a Chowhound to the degree that I'm not going to patronize a place with worse food because they have less offensive packaging. That said, I don't get takeaway very often - we usually either cook from scratch at home or eat in a sit-down restaurant.
BTW, in reference to the article above, I don't think that most foam food containers are actually styrofoam nowadays. Most I've seen recently do have recycling marks on them, and I wash those and put them in the recycle bin. The only real pellet-formed styrofoam I've run across recently, as shown in the photo above, was molded packing materials - and it's marked as recyclable as well.
Since I don't have a car, and use public transportation or my feet to get around, I simply can't always have a shopping bag (or two), a travel mug, a Nalgene bottle of water, and an array of food storage containers on my person. Again, I do what I can manage, and I do reuse or recycle as much food packaging as I can, but there are practicalities to consider as well.
Being "greener" is my New Years resolution so this is a great article to run into!
My big "Aha!" moment so far has been realizing how much stuff is actually recyclable! Its crazy! Another big realization has been how almost inconvenient it is to recycle. For example, I've been trying to drink juices or sodas that come in recyclable containers...but if I am at a museum or the street, garbage cans are the only option. I end up feeling so silly throwing it away, that I carry it with me all day until I get home!
I agree with Soupkitten that it should be about being a little greener at the individual level!
I imagine that it would be difficult keeping track of which restaurants use which type of to go containers. Also, I sure don't want to have someone's poorly sanitized personal containers that probably sat next to the family dog in the car anywhere near the food service areas in a restaurant kitchen if I'm going to be eating there, thank you very much.
Why can't most people just chose to cook at home twice as often as we do now? Think about how much something that simple would reduce environmental degradation.
rollingplate: most of the restaurants I eat in already bring takeaway containers to the table anyway( i.e., I must fill them myself). It used to irritate me ( do I have to do this?), but after after a few chowhound threads I really started to like the idea of bringing-your-own-takeaway dishes and boxing at the table. The boxes are not going into the kitchen (no various-and-sundry microbes involved), and it saves yet more takeaway waste. We all have totebags that we haul around --why not have a couple of Gladware in there? Kitchen need not be bothered with anything; you can box up at the table. I have not yet found a server averse to this. Maybe just lucky. Or: maybe things are changing.
Cay
I've always thought the re-sealable plastic containers to be the most eco-friendly in my case since I wash them and re-use them for leftovers at home; usually until they actually break. The wholly organic coverings (corn leaves, bannana leaves sound good but in practice few municpal areas bother to sepereate out biodegradables from the public trash and how many of us would carry such wrappers home to put on our personal compost piles? the. Re-sealeables (either theirs or ones you bring) also have the advatage of not leaking on the way home and pouring hot soup on you pants (and after all isn't letting you food spill out onto the ground just another form of pollution?) completely edible containers like bread for soup sound good but require that you wash/sterize your hand before touching them (how may of us would go the the restroom and wash our hands before getting in line to order and them rember which hand we took or money out with so that we take the food with our other hand exclusively.) when facts are to be faced it boits down to THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A COMPLETELTY WASTE-FREE TAKEOUT MEAL (unless you define a peice of fruit as a takeout meal)
Years ago in Cuttack, India (and elsewhere in India, people would get their food in banana leaves. They would often toss the food-soiled leaves in the street after eating. The ubiuitous cows would eat the banana leaves. Alas the shift to plastic bags meant ugly litter and sad cows.
Cay, I was actually referring more to the previous threads relating to to-go order pick-up where people suggested bringing in their own containers. But you had a very sensible idea for leftovers and I agree with you that it's always more sanitary to box food at the table.
I really appreciate this list and I wouldn't argue with the rankings, but I'd just point out that Styrofoam and some plastic containers ARE recyclable! I had no idea that you could recycle Styrofoam until just recently. Yes, it's still a bad option, but often for me the chow comes first -- a lot of mom-and-pop joints use it.
Cicely, out of conscience I have to point out that just because a container carries the "chasing arrows" recycling symbol, which indicates it is POSSIBLE to recycle the item, does not mean that the item it actually recyclable in a PRACTICAL sense, given municipal pick-up rules, the market for the materials, the potential for future product, etc. Check with your recycling facility and ask questions about each type to make certain. Then go from there...maybe mom-and-pops wouldn't mind you bringing your own if you asked nicely!
Best, Cay
I try to use canvas bags whenever I can. I never thought about brining my own takeaway container. What a great idea!
As an owner of a restaurant, I searched hi and low for the 'right' containers to use - alas the choices out there are very limited when you consider the cost. We serve rotisserie chicken and side dishes. Anything that can clearly be recycled would add almost $2.24 per ticket. (a typical ticket is four persons dining.) There are not containers big enough to fit our dinners into without using styro take aways.
I brought my own container today to Vanessa's Dumplings on 14th street -- they serve fantastic soup and dumplings but use large plastic containers (you can reuse them, but you should see how many we have in our kitchen!) and stryofoam, even for eat-in. Anyway, they were a bit puzzled by the container I brought from home, but when they understood what I wanted (and my container was very, very clean) they were happy to comply. The woman next to me in line said "That's so nice! I'm going to start doing that." You never know....
Btw, souperchix -- we used to get deliveries from Rainbow Chicken on the UWS (now defunct, I think, sadly) who sent grilled chicken in foil bags, which we recycled. Would that work at your restaurant?
Foil bags are nice for most chicken - ours is sort of sticky from our marinade - but what about the side dishes. I suppose we could package the chicken in bags and then the sides dishes in cardboard. Most of our containers have the recycled symbol on them. (i'm not sure whether that means to recycle them or that they themselves are made from recycled material. We are working on it.
Can you re-format the print function? It isn't very green - I used it and got a 6 page print out with no ratings/info printed next to the Common Carriers but everyone's comments. I was going to post it on the office Green Board.
Here in San Francisco, restaurants are required to use biodegradable take-out containers. Which sounds like a super-awesome idea until you try to transport a container of scalding hot take-out enchiladas or nachos on your lap on the 10 minute bus ride home and get home to a thoroughly disintegrated pulpy, saucy mess (and, several times, ruined jeans.) While I'm all for greening things up, forcing restaurateurs to adopt this, thus causing the most cash-poor of the bunch to use the cheapest possible iteration, is NOT good eats.
souperchix and Chowsmurf - The bagasse containers the article mentions are pretty sturdy, and heat-safe. Unfortunately, restaurant supply stores (including those in Oakland, where it's required to use biodegradable take-out containers) have only the crappy cardboard options. My boyfriend's company orders bagasse containers from Worldcentric online - I know there are a bunch of other companies, too - and they've been good.
I'm glad there's a move towards greener containers - but now that I'm seeing the other side of the food industry, the amount of waste in the kitchen seems enormous compared to the consumer-facing part of it. If more commercial kitchens composted their food scraps, it would make a big difference.
I started trying to BMyO containers about a year back (when i started working for an enviro group). To be honest, usually I forget, but I have found some guidelines to go by.
Along with comments people mentioned above, (packing your own leftovers at the table etc) I can think of a few others to add.
Reusing a cleaned container that you got from the restaurant in the first place can be easy (particularly if you're a regular) the kitchen staff are often less wary, because they know where the container came from (and can forget they don't know where it's been).
Buffets, and salad bars are also easy lunchtime options-- following the "pack your own" rule, I've found it's pretty easy to re-use my *cleaned* saladbar container several times in a row before I toss it for recycling.
Another forgotten option is to BYO chopsticks (if you can't choose to use house chopsticks ONLY when they're reusable/ bamboo). I love my own chopsticks because they're high quality, and since some people in asia actually DO bring their own, some sets that come with carry pouches..
The last "reuse" idea I love is for those aluminum dish take out containers and it comes from my grandma (of all people). Some decades ago, grams figured out that they work great as free one-time use pie pans, and so she saves them for pot-lucks, dinner parties, and family get togethers. Once she's resused them she recycles them, but at least they get at least 2 go's around before they get chucked!
**note: my favorite mexican place (Downtown Bakery, manhattan, 1st ave and 5th st) now recycles their glass soda bottles and cans. They didn't a year ago. Why the change? Because regulars (like myself) who were chummy with the staff asked them "why not" and reminded them that those bottles come with $$ deposits. Moral: if you want your fav place to become more eco-friendly, sometimes all you have to do is ask.
I agree this is great to see on Chowhound! We need more discussion of all the waste in the restaurant industry.
I've been bringing my own quart deli containers to restaurants when I remember for the last 2 years. At first people thought I was a little strange, as when I use to whip out my own plastic bags at the supermarket, but now all my friends say, "Damn, I wish I could remember to do that!". I've never once had a server complain about me box up the leftovers myself at the table, why should they? They save work, cost of containers, waste hauling costs, and potentially cleaning costs (if you do a good job of getting it all in your container).
In fact given the restaurant owner's discussion of the cost of to go containers, perhaps we should start encouraging the restaurants we go to give a discount to people who bring their own containers, as some markets do for bags. That would greatly accelerate the coolness factor of BYO!
As to the recyclability of styrofoam, it is definitely not recyclable in New York City. Only plastics marked 1 and 2, and not even all of those, since it has to be in the form of a bottle (i.e. it has a seem and a narrower neck than the body), so even though all those deli containers are marked with a 2 on them, they are not recyclable since they are actually made of a different plastic than #2 bottles. This is a problem in the plastics industry with marking that needs to be reformed immediately.
Allstonian- yes your chinese place may have styrofoam, but don't they also have the plastic deli containers for soup and the coated cardboard chinese takeaway containers? Just ask them to put stuff in those instead, which you can recycle or reuse. You don't have to sacrifice food quality for environmentalism, you just need to start asking a few more questions and assert yourself a bit. Pretty soon it all be very cool with everyone, have no fear!
Going out to eat with my mom and grandmother always ended in pure embarrassment for me and my dad--out came the plastic carrier bags, and in went the food. Particularly worrisome when we went to our favorite mussels restaurant. We were always happy to eat it the next day, though! And probably not as embarrassing as when my mom went on a date and the waiter brought out a package of giblets the chef had saved for my grandmother's dog. My folks have dealt with rationing, shortages, etc, so "doggy bags" may not seem cool, but my mom, my dad and I got over it, and so can you!
When ordering takeout food for home or office a difference can be made by asking the restaurant NOT to include styrofoam plates, plastic cutlery and those pesky soy sauce, duck sauce and mustard plastic packages that come with every Chinese takeout meal and - in most cases - never get used.
I also rinse and re-use my deli container when I go to the salad bar for lunch about 3 times a week.
And of course I refuse plastic bags whereever I can.
A couple years ago my favourite bookstore restaurant would happily fill my containers for takeout.
The Berkeley Farmer's Market now requires the vendors to use biodegradable bags instead of plastic, but it has created a problem because the customer has to pay for the new bags and the vendors are having to make a lot of change. Imagine what used to cost $4 now costs $4.10. If the market requires it then they should foot the bill, at least for the time being until the transition is fairly stabilized. If you make a mandate, fund it initially.
That does it...
When I was employed, I used to pack lunch in a bento box every day. Once you buy your first bento box, it's very difficult to stop, so I have a decent sized collection. Now I'm going to tuck one into my purse whenever I go out to eat. I can pack my own leftovers.
@ dgh: "It's challenging enough training oneself to carry shopping bags when going to the grocer (I keep getting caught out when I don't expect to go to the groger but stop in on my way home from work)"
Put your grocery bags in the car; then you'll always have them. Or for public transit -- when I lived in the SF Bay Area, I saw many commuters carrying at least one bag for their laptop, files, lunch or what-have-you. Fold up an extra bag for quick shopping trips on the way home and tuck it into the main bag. It may not look "hip" in Boston but in other hipster places, everybody does it.
It is an important topic.
Definitely having an awareness about how much waste is generated from take out food is important.
We need to continue to talk about all these rather simple ways to reduce waste.
Have conversations with family, friends, and the restaurants you love to visit.
I've been thinking (mostly in a pretty lazy way) about how to get the word out about all this. Talking to friends, families, restaurants we visit is important and a great way to start, but what about all the people we don't have direct contact with who might be willing to work on it but simply haven't given the matter a thought (yet)? I'm thinking Web site, Facebook group, e-factsheets distributed widely to restaurants and other foodsellers...? Anyone have any brilliant ideas?
This is what I have done here in NJ.
It is only a start but has generated some communication here in the Garden State.
Life is short! Eat Well - Stay Happy - Live Long! www.reusenj.com
Great post, very useful!
Working in the events industry we have been involved in the 'green' side of things quite heavily. A great deal of the above waste is still far too evident at the larger exhibitions and trade shows. Not just the paper brochures and marketing literature but all the catering that goes around the event.
In creating some of the 'greener' events we have been able to show genuine cost savings to clients, not just save on the amount of waste involved. Simple things like avoiding hundreds of plastic bottles of water are win win situation for the accommodating venue, the client and the general issue of sustainability. (not of course for the corporate water harvesters there seems to be nowadays so another added incentive is it not?)
More companies when hosting banquets and trade shows etc could certainly make more effort and realise the advantages but I am optimistic that many have the right direction. Some habits are simply hard to break.
I LOVE!!!! my Copco coffee cup, the kind that looks like a cardboard/paper major chain coffee shop one. I especially love that it is dishwasher safe. Now I'll try washing and taking to restaurants to see if I can convince them to use it for my iced beverages. it's plenty big enough, I usually drink a glass or two, and want a take away cup for some water on the ride back to the office or home. How fab would it be if I didn't have to dirty 2 glasses ('cause some restaurants bring out a clean glass every time, crazy I know) and use a styrofoam take-away glass too?
I'm going to have to work on take out containers as, I often go out last minute or need to bring something back for lunch and haven't planned ahead adequately.