Any restaurants you know that are reducing plastic?

Hello_there@fedia.io to Asklemmy@lemmy.ml – 30 points –

Looking to see if you know of any restaurants doing anything interesting for reducing takeout plastic waste.
Deposit for using Pyrex? Discount for byo? Etc

21

My local traditional chinese restaurant (basically only take away) uses paper, cardboard and wood for cups, sticks or cutlery. Also paper bags.

And the food is delicious!

Plastic straws are completely gone from all establishments where I live. The last one to do was Tim Horton's, which happened in the last couple years.

They replaced them with paper straws coated in PFAS, as far as I know.

Source on the PFAS?

ELI5, if plastic and paper are both recyclable and both not ideal for the environment, why is one better than the other?

Neither will be recycled, but one comes from a renewable resource, and the other from non-renewable. Also, paper biodegrades while plastic doe not

It’s like bread dough and bread. Reshaping bread dough is easy. The same process doesn’t work for bread, but you can grind it into crumbs and make other foods with it. You probably won’t be able to make the same kind of bread, but you can use it for thickening sauces or deep frying things and it is a form of recycling. Trying to then recycle the next food is much harder.

In Germany you can usually bring your own containers for takeout. Many restaurants have also switched to using paper-based takeout containers.

I'm always wondering if these brown "paper" / "cardboard" packaging materials are actually plastic-free (I'm also almost certain they're since "compostable" packaging is still allowed to contain absurd (20%?) amounts in some jurisdictions). The worst thing is that most come without anything to identify them by so even if some are we'll never know!

As far as I’m aware they are not - they have a lining inside that contains plastic. At least that’s what I remember of paper coffee cups for example. But yes - where I live they are still supposed to be sorted as paper products.

Not real restaurant, but I've seen a lot of "to go" food shop offering a small discount if you bring your own box.

Nowadays, I feel like most of the plastic is replaced by paper, I even see some place using biscuit box for sauces.

Costco food court doesn’t seem to have any straws at all anymore, paper or plastic. There are still using plastic lids, but they have a little flap in them sort of like a coffee cup lid that you can sip through.

No discounts and nothing advertised, but I know a few local restaurants that are more than happy to give you your take out meals in your own container if you ask for it. Wouldn't hurt to ask about it the next time you make an order somewhere.

All the ones I know of are technically reducing plastic, but only one or two have stopped using it.