Do you join the many households with a drawer full of plastic utensils and condiment packets from takeout food? Even though we all have cutlery, the plastic ones seem to come anyway. It’s an unconscious and wasteful habit. 

According to the Clean Air Council, enough paper and plastic are thrown away every year to circle the equator 300 times. Once in our landfills and beaches, they take hundreds of years to break down.

Help your favorite business reduce their cost and end the takeout waste by taking some easy steps:

• If placing your order online or over the phone, let them know you don’t need the plastic utensils.
• Bring Your Own Container (BYOC) – Assembly Bill 619 passed in July 2019 making it easier for consumers to bring their own reusable containers to restaurants for foodservice – Reusable Containers and Multiuse Utensils
• Download and print these leave-behind cards to let your favorite local business know that you’ll support their efforts to reduce waste.

And just in case you’re thinking…I’ll recycle it! Read this article.

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Fight plastic pollution every time you eat out by downloading the PlasticScore app. 

PlasticScore is a crowdsourced zero waste rating for restaurants. PlasticScore funds plastic waste offsets for every review, and they use the data to help create a world free of plastic pollution.

Learn more about the impacts of trashy dining.

Someday soon, we’ll all be carrying our own cutlery just like we carry our own water bottles, it takes a while for unconscious habits to turn into conscious actions. And just think what you can put in that drawer that is no longer filled with plastic utensils!

Watch this great video to discover some easy hacks to reduce and reuse single-use take-out utensils and accessories