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Eating out is fun, delicious, and a great opportunity to be sustainable. It turns out that food and drink litter account for 75% of all plastic products littering the ocean. So, any time that you enjoy a delicious meal from a restaurant and make a conscious choice to make even one sustainable change, you can help make a huge dent in ocean plastic waste. And, don’t worry, in case you’re wondering how to enjoy takeout sustainably, we’ve rounded up a few easy tips you can adopt on your next takeout run. From looking for sustainable food packaging to using paper napkins sparingly, these are also tips that you can follow in your every day life to reduce waste and have a better impact on nature.
Order take out occasionally
Let’s take a moment and envision what a bag of take out food looks like for a group of three. Within the paper (or plastic) bag three take out containers sit on top of one another. Most likely these are made from plastic or paper boxes coated in plastic. Your side of choice is on the very top with a paper sheet over it to avoid contamination. Three sets of utensils, a thick pile of napkins, and packets of sauces are lying at the bottom all wrapped in plastic. You and your friends go home, eat, and when you’re done all of that waste ends up in the trash.
Now take this to a bigger scale. This type of single-use waste contributed to the 82.2 million tons of waste created in 2018 from packaging and containers in the U.S. And, that number is only growing. According to some surveys 65% of Americans have been ordering more takeout since the pandemic. Now that is a lot of waste.
Until there are more sustainable food packaging options that are fully-recyclable, biodegradable or compostable it is much more sustainable to eat in- either at the restaurant or at home. Some restaurants have begun adopting sustainable food packaging for their take-out orders. And, there are apps like Jybe, that rank and connect you with local restaurants that use sustainable packaging to avoid extra waste.
Only take as many paper napkins as you need
Whenever a restaurant offers paper napkins instead of cloth napkins, be conscious when selecting how many you need. It is very common for people to mindlessly grab a handful and leave them perfectly clean on the table once they are done eating. Due to sanitary laws, the restaurant workers have to throw them away. The Global Forest Resource Assessment estimated that about 80,000 to 160,000 trees are chopped down every single day in order to support the global consumerization of paper products. Creating one ton of paper towels requires about 17 trees along with over 20,000 gallons of earth’s precious water. By opting for cloth napkins, we can significantly reduce our paper consumption and single-use and even save a few trees while we’re at it.
Go plant-based when you can
Eating plant-based is not only healthy for our bodies, it is also healthy for our earth’s ecosystem. A plant-based diet is linked to a healthier gut, disease prevention and improved energy levels. The other impacts from shifting away from meat-based diets are a significant reduction in CO2 emissions, fresh water waste and ocean pollution.
Some researchers consider the meat industry to be one of the worst polluters to our earth and suggest that avoiding meat and dairy is actually the best way that a person can reduce their negative impact on the environment. In fact, new research links beef to 105 kg of greenhouses gases per 100g of protein while tofu produces less than 3.5 kg. Furthermore, the amount of water and feed that is required to raise the animals is astronomical, amounting to roughly 25 kg of feed and 2,000 gallons of water to produce 1kg of beef. The meat industry is responsible for 14.5% of the global emissions.
On the bright side, we can get protein and all of our nutrients from plants, and there are many plant-based alternatives these days that taste incredible. These alternatives include soy, hemp, nuts, rice, seeds, and peas! Not eating meat may feel like a huge sacrifice, but eating it is a much bigger one and it is time for us to face the facts of the meat industry and go plant-based.
Eat seasonally
Eating seasonally is the way to go. You’re more likely to support local farmers, eat pesticide-free, fresher foods, while also being in tune with nature. Eating locally reduces emissions because it usually means you’re that your fresh fruits and veggies aren’t traveling very far. The “I deserve what I want now and at all times” mentality is not sustainable, and it is time to toss it out the door.
The phrase “eating seasonally” could mean eating a food that is seasonally produced, yet not in your geographic location. It is important to know the difference between that version of “eating seasonally,” because although better than not doing so at all, it is still much less sustainable than eating seasonally in accordance with your own geographic location. Food miles are known as the distance that food travels, and they have one of the biggest environmental impacts on our earth in relation to diet.
You can find charts that show you what is in season in your area. When you dine out at a restaurant try to seek out places that source their fruits and veggies locally!
Bring a reusable container for your leftovers
If you are notorious for never finishing your meal, this is an important tip for you. Ask a restaurant if you can use your own reusable container from your home. You’ll just have to make sure to bring it with you before you leave the house. Once you’re happy and full after eating that plant-based meal you can just put the rest into your own container and avoid using a single-use to-go container that might not be recyclable or reusable. You also don’t have to harm the environment in the process and your food still makes it home! Your own reusable container is the best sustainable food packaging option. How convenient! Envision all of the times you have asked for a to-go container just to take home a few more bites, and ate it right when you got home or later that day and threw out the packaging shortly afterwards. Now you don’t have to sacrifice the health of the environment to enjoy the rest of your food.