plastic spoon ghosts and pitiful earth day
it was earth day yesterday, and people went around with candles and turned their light off.
people, as group, felt proud for it.
and starbucks just committed for development of more environmentally-friendly disposable cup.
people, as a group, felt proud for it.
there's a taiwanese place near by the ymca. and i go there for a quick lunch at times. and for every meal, they provide the usual:
1. bento box (plastic-widely recycled)
2. disposable chopsticks (garbage)
3. chopstick wrapper (paper-widely recycled)
4. plastic spoon (plastic-widely recycled)
5. napkins (green bin)
6. styro cup for water (plastic no. 6, only 39% recycleable)
7. plastic bag for takeaway (so many types that it's usually cost-inefficient to recycle)
8. bubble tea cup (plastic-widely recycled)
9. bubble tea lid (plastic-widely recycled)
10. straw for bubble tea
but here, i dont think anything gets recycled at this resto
most customers are bay corridor student residents. it's quite cheap and tasty, and plentiful. so they flock down and get their meals in white plastic bags, and with bubble tea in hands, they leave.
and every time i go in there, i have to ask specifically for:
1. no utensils please,
2. no water cup please, i have a thermos/bottle.
so instead of 10 things, i have 1 thing to take care of: the bento box.
the bento box is recyclable but it does not get recycled here.
how do i know? because all garbage go into one bin at the end wall. there are no separate bin for... well, no, there's only one bin.
so sometimes i even take the empty box with me, and put it in the street recycling bin. they think it's the weirdest thing. i asked if they would have a bento recycling bin, and they said they dont have one. and as they operate on part of a building, it'll be building owner's decision to abide by the law; they are supposed to provide recycling facility, and perhaps it's the restaurant that is refusing to deal with recycling, i dont really know and i dont think they would even tell me (probably ban me, lol).
https://www.toronto.ca/services-payments/recycling-organics-garbage/apartments-condos-co-ops/opt-in-or-out-of-city-collection-services/
im not trying to fault this particular restaurant. but i want to fault all the customer students who are being oblivious to their waste production. they are all university students. they are quite rich. i am sure they study hard and that they do believe they are cool- remember captain planet? he was cool. yeah. not poisoning where we live is a cool thing (also quite necessary).
but really- do you always need another utensil? do you need a double bag? would it kill you to carry utensils and thermos/bottle? reusable bag?
wooden chopsticks arent supposed to be 'reused' because they become unhygienic. so in toronto, it's just straight garbage (you could use them at home with good washing without dying- i do it...)
https://www.toronto.ca/services-payments/recycling-organics-garbage/waste-wizard/
compare to the light-off for an hour, here'a comparison of energy consumption for a single plastic spoon. it can be made of two different materials, polypropylene and polystyrene.
they wont break back down into carbon and hydrogen so easily- typically, they are considered non-biodegradable. so what is the cost of that?
ETERNITY.
https://www.popsci.com/environment/article/2008-04/why-trashing-oceans-more-dangerous-we-imagined
it's gonna live longer than all of us.
ALL OF US.
people, as group, felt proud for it.
and starbucks just committed for development of more environmentally-friendly disposable cup.
people, as a group, felt proud for it.
there's a taiwanese place near by the ymca. and i go there for a quick lunch at times. and for every meal, they provide the usual:
1. bento box (plastic-widely recycled)
2. disposable chopsticks (garbage)
3. chopstick wrapper (paper-widely recycled)
4. plastic spoon (plastic-widely recycled)
5. napkins (green bin)
6. styro cup for water (plastic no. 6, only 39% recycleable)
7. plastic bag for takeaway (so many types that it's usually cost-inefficient to recycle)
8. bubble tea cup (plastic-widely recycled)
9. bubble tea lid (plastic-widely recycled)
10. straw for bubble tea
most customers are bay corridor student residents. it's quite cheap and tasty, and plentiful. so they flock down and get their meals in white plastic bags, and with bubble tea in hands, they leave.
and every time i go in there, i have to ask specifically for:
1. no utensils please,
2. no water cup please, i have a thermos/bottle.
so instead of 10 things, i have 1 thing to take care of: the bento box.
the bento box is recyclable but it does not get recycled here.
so..not 10 things, but one thing.
how do i know? because all garbage go into one bin at the end wall. there are no separate bin for... well, no, there's only one bin.
so sometimes i even take the empty box with me, and put it in the street recycling bin. they think it's the weirdest thing. i asked if they would have a bento recycling bin, and they said they dont have one. and as they operate on part of a building, it'll be building owner's decision to abide by the law; they are supposed to provide recycling facility, and perhaps it's the restaurant that is refusing to deal with recycling, i dont really know and i dont think they would even tell me (probably ban me, lol).
https://www.toronto.ca/services-payments/recycling-organics-garbage/apartments-condos-co-ops/opt-in-or-out-of-city-collection-services/
im not trying to fault this particular restaurant. but i want to fault all the customer students who are being oblivious to their waste production. they are all university students. they are quite rich. i am sure they study hard and that they do believe they are cool- remember captain planet? he was cool. yeah. not poisoning where we live is a cool thing (also quite necessary).
but really- do you always need another utensil? do you need a double bag? would it kill you to carry utensils and thermos/bottle? reusable bag?
wooden chopsticks arent supposed to be 'reused' because they become unhygienic. so in toronto, it's just straight garbage (you could use them at home with good washing without dying- i do it...)
https://www.toronto.ca/services-payments/recycling-organics-garbage/waste-wizard/
compare to the light-off for an hour, here'a comparison of energy consumption for a single plastic spoon. it can be made of two different materials, polypropylene and polystyrene.
this is for producing 1 pounds of plastic. let's do some math!
1 pounds is about 453 g.
1 pounds is about 453 g.
if average plastic spoon weighing about 4.25 g, that's about 106 spoons.
9340 watts for 106 spoons, so each spoon requires about 88 watts.
88 watts is 0.088 kWh.
at mid-peak, toronto hydro winter rate is 9.5 cents per kWh.
so that's about 0.83 cents, so let's round it up to 1 cent.
88 watts is 0.088 kWh.
at mid-peak, toronto hydro winter rate is 9.5 cents per kWh.
so that's about 0.83 cents, so let's round it up to 1 cent.
cheap, yeah?
but you know. that does not include any of the cost for transportation of the product (from production to distribution to customer contact), storage, and most weirdly, its disposing cost.
but you know. that does not include any of the cost for transportation of the product (from production to distribution to customer contact), storage, and most weirdly, its disposing cost.
it takes about... well, up to 100 years to breakdown.
and when they say breakdown,
they breakdown into smaller, individual molecules.
they breakdown into smaller, individual molecules.
though they are made of carbon and hydrogen (hello, you org chem, long time no see!):
- polypropylene: (C3H6)n,
- polystyrene: (C8H8)n
they wont break back down into carbon and hydrogen so easily- typically, they are considered non-biodegradable. so what is the cost of that?
ETERNITY.
https://www.popsci.com/environment/article/2008-04/why-trashing-oceans-more-dangerous-we-imagined
it's gonna live longer than all of us.
ALL OF US.
every single plastic utensils ever used, will live forever.
think about that. whoa.
and for the ones that gets recycled, we often forget that recycling itself is also energy-consuming process (quite intense, actually).
and no one really needs new plastic utensils everyday.
i carry utensils (metal spoon, plastic BUT reusable chopsticks). and thermos.
if i ate out twice a week for school semesters, say, semesters being about 12 weeks long, that's about 12 x 2 x 2 = 48 spoons.
48 spoons that will last through eternity. for one normal school year.
one 60 watts bulb will use 60 watts per the hour when used.
for 48 spoons' production only, it adds to: 0.088 kWh x 48 = 4.224 kWh = 4224 watts.
that's 70 hours of 60 watts bulb.
70 HOURS.
48 spoons that will last through eternity. for one normal school year.
one 60 watts bulb will use 60 watts per the hour when used.
for 48 spoons' production only, it adds to: 0.088 kWh x 48 = 4.224 kWh = 4224 watts.
that's 70 hours of 60 watts bulb.
70 HOURS.
like, hullo,
a full time job for a week is 40 hours (generally),
with breaks, so let's say 35 hours (generally),
THATS TWO WHOLE WEEKS OF WORKHOURS LIGHT for 48 spoons.
rather than headdesk looking at our affluent community creating ever-living-spoon ghosts, i wonder how could i help to encourage self and others to REDUCE.
recycling is fine, but reduce was first.
earth day, my butt, as long as people hold disposable cups with that little coffee lid topper, there's no earth day. get a thermos, weirdos.
rather than headdesk looking at our affluent community creating ever-living-spoon ghosts, i wonder how could i help to encourage self and others to REDUCE.
recycling is fine, but reduce was first.
earth day, my butt, as long as people hold disposable cups with that little coffee lid topper, there's no earth day. get a thermos, weirdos.
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