Hi,
I am planning to undertake a community-based project with businesses, namely Asian restaurants, to attempt to convert them from disposable to reusable chopsticks. Disposable chopsticks are often referred to as 'waribashi', which is the Japanese term. Any information on similar initiatives, the impact / scope of the problem or links to eco-friendly chopstick alternatives would be helpful. Any projects working with restaurants on environmental behavioural change might also be relevant.
Many thanks,
Leah Stokes,
University of Toronto
Disposable Chopsticks Reduction
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I have observed that Chinese restaurants often have reusable chop sticks, while Japanese restaurants have the disposable wood ones. It would be interesting to find out why the difference, and then use that info for the project.
Heidi Feldman
Public Education Coordinator
14201 Del Monte Blvd.,
P.O. Box 1670 831/384-5313
FAX: 831/384-3567
Re chopsticks: Just the other day, I found a website for a company that makes gifts, art, lamps, etc. from used chopsticks. Really nice stuff. Check it out at http://www.kwytzakraft.com/
Steve Rinaldi NJDEP,
Bureau of Recycling and Planning
regarding the chopstick issue, in a city as diverse as Toronto, I think you'd be wrong to lump all asian restaurants together. In my experience most chinese restaurants use plastic chopsticks, unless they're "food court-y chinese-canadian chicken-ball egg-roll" kind of places. I think every vietnamese restaurant I've been too has a big thing of plastic chopsticks at the table. korean places usually have skinny metal chopsticks that are really hard to use if you're not used to them. the last time I went out for korean they gave us disposable bamboo ones because we didn't look korean. I've never seen anything other than a disposable chopsticks at a sushi place, so maybe it's a Japanese thing, as someone else suggested. my impression is that the Japanese like disposable things. you'll have to figure out the root of their trauma if you want them to change their ways. I know that post-SARS there was a lot of paranoia about hygiene in chinese restaurants. a lot of chinese restaurants now bring a big bowl to the table when you sat down for a meal. The purpose of this bowl was to be used as a wash basin. Everyone would rinse their cups, bowls, plates, spoons, chopsticks with hot tea before the meal. They've also gotten into the habit of including more serving utensils with dishes. traditionally everyone would just take from these dishes using their own chopsticks, but this communal way of eating was seen as a good way to spread germs so everyone, in their SARS induced panic, changed their ways.
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hi Leah,
The most recent issue of Worldwatch (Vol. 19, issue 1, Jan/Feb 2006) has a one-page 'life-cycle study' about chopsticks. Have you already seen it? It is a short summary, filled with interesting tidbits. Some of the info that might be relevant to your query: There is a campaign in Japan called "Let's Carry Our Own Chopsticks" (barrier in Japan: most people don't like to use a chopstick that has been used by someone else). Also, there are health concerns with long-term disposable chopstick use- for example, tests in Taiwan have shown that some are tainted with traces of sulfur dioxide (used as a bleaching agent to prevent mold and discoloration) and a study in Beijing found a link between long-term chopstick use and joint decay. Unfortunately, they don't have the life-cycle studies section available online as a pdf (see http://www.worldwatch.org/pubs/mag/ 2006/191/contents/), but you can probably still get the magazine on the newsstand. If you have any trouble locating it, send me an email and I'll be glad to send you a photocopy.
Christie Manning