I love pretty much any condiment, mustard, ketchup, sour cream, grape jelly, salsa… you name it. I’ve been referred to as the condiment queen. This is a problem to me in the world of fast food. There’s so much plastic and paper waste associated with it. I looked up condiment packaging and found a few eco-friendly alternatives. For me, this brings up a bigger question. The word “ECO” is used a lot these days. I’m glad people are coming up with eco-friendly options that are much better for the environment, but here’s my question.
Should we just be content with using products that are a little bit better for the environment or should we be trying to scale back our use of disposable products?
I’m trying to do both. I’m not always successful as you can see in the photo, but those were given with my meal, not upon request, but just assumed I would eat them all. I’ve cut way back on the fast food consumption over the past year. Meals are supposed to be a time of fellowship and relaxation. If my lifestyle needs fast food, I need to make some changes.
My ideas were validated a few days ago by the cost of fast food. My 2 boys and I went to Sonic. I’m usually all over the price shopping part of eating, but this day, I decided to let them order whatever they wanted. They both ordered modestly, as did I. Almost $18.00 spent and the kids were still hungry. A few days later, we went to a sit-down restaurant. This time it was me and the kids, but we brought a friend along as well. Including ‘good’ food for all of us, one beer and one dessert, the total was around $35, including the tip. There’s a price for all that packaging, not to mention the nutritional value of fast food.
Also, I’m not sure why, but the magic number of napkins seems to be 6. Why do I need 6 napkins with a sandwich? Do I look that messy? If they give out 5 extra napkins per person, with an average customer count of 450 a day, that’s 2,250 napkins that go in a landfill. And that’s just napkins.
I’m not saying I will never eat fast food again (although I’m leaning in that direction), but I will be doing it even less now. I’m not saying you shouldn’t eat fast food either. We should all be aware of the effects of it though. There are times where the fast food meal is not a bad idea, but doing it regularly will cost you a lot of money, aid in destroying our earth and eventually will break your heart.
I’ve started saving bottle caps for Aveda, I need to see about things like mayonnaise lids, mustard lids, and anything with hard plastic lids..I will check the site for those specs.
I was glad to see, even though they are now recycling styrofoam, that Olive Garden has chosen new “To Go” packaging that is made of recyclable corn products. way to go Olive Garden!
As far as “Eco” and “Green”, I have been concerned that the buzz words have become merely that, words with no action, a way to market a product, kind of like the phrase “Lite” took over the marketplace.
“Meals are supposed to be a time of fellowship and relaxation.” I wonder when the last time you actually relaxed and did not worry about anything? Those napkins are paper so they won’t be in the landfill very long. Relax, take it easy and enjoy your burrito.
~Ozz~
I have and my kids and I are very intentional about meal time together. My point with the napkins are (a) the waste factor in it and (b) it takes a lot of machinery and natural resources to make the napkins. Why make stuff just to throw it away? I don’t get it.