Back in 2019 when my husband and I were planning our very DIY (read: ‘very cheap’) wedding, we were committed to having something outdoors and also not lugging dishes around. But most importantly: Something not wasteful. It in planning for that event that I discovered how much of “sustainable” cutlery and single-use servingware is a lie.

That’s right. ‘Compostable’ has become another buzzword designed to hide the ugly truth. Cutlery mostly labeled as ‘biodegradable’ or ‘compostable’ all have a very specific condition: In industrial composting facilities. So don’t put these in your own backyard bin, or even expect them to breakdown in a landfill — they won’t. Industrial composting involves specific chemicals and conditions that return these single-use items into resin.

Resin. Not even compost material.

TL;DR — I’ve invested in bamboo plates and utensils for parties and more. If the whole world were to switch to bamboo, I’m not sure that’d be sustainable either… But right now it’s just me making a small dent.

All the pandemic utensils

If, like me, you have a hoard of pandemic-era single-use utensils at home now… Good news! There might be responsible ways to dispose of these still.

Try to use them yourself when you truly need portable, disposable things. They’re already manufactured. You may as well use them so it’s not a total waste.
Some local charities might accept things like this. In my experience — they most often don’t. But a friend told me that Martha’s Kitchen in the San Jose area will accept donations of these single-use items. Please call and check with any charity before you bring things to their door.

I’ve also noticed some DoorDash storefronts implementing an option for “No Utensils”. This is great! I really wish every restaurant would default to “No Utensils” and instead provide an option to request them.

I’ve been reading Alice Waters’ new book We Are What We Eat. In it, she talks about convenience being the enemy of sustainability (in more eloquent words than that!). And while she was writing about the food industry as a whole, the same principle applies here. Restaurants (especially big chain restaurants) would rather produce mountains of waste giving you utensils and condiments you don’t need in order to not risk anyone having any complaints about their experience. Until we can change that attitude, I don’t expect any of us to be able to stop hoarding a mountain of takeaway utensils.