Food waste is a huge problem for the United States. As a wealthy nation, we often take our supermarkets full of food for granted. Thankfully there are many initiative popping to tackle this problem, with one example being seen at Salt Lake City, Utah, where a facility will reduce landfill waste and turn food waste into renewable energy. [1]
In an effort to help curb some of the strains that disposable plastic puts on landfills, France is set to become the first country to ban all disposable cutlery products. By 2020, any disposable cutlery items will be required to be made from 50% biologically-sourced materials. By 2025, the cutlery will have to be made of 60% biologically sourced materials that can be composted at home. [1]
Know what would be really different? If you’re sitting around with friends enjoying dinner, and suddenly you start eating your knife and fork. Of course you can’t eat silver or plastic, but edible utensils do exist, and you might have seen them recently on Facebook.
A video of a guy biting into a spoon is making the rounds, and I’m a little ashamed to admit that instead of thinking about how much plastic would be kept out of landfills and oceans, I immediately wanted to get my hands on some so I could pull off the above dinner scenario.
The saying, “There’s plenty of fish in the sea” will be utter nonsense by 2050, scientists say, because plastic will dominate the oceans.
Use of plastic has increased 20-fold in the past half-century, and plastic production is expected to double over the next 2 decades and nearly quadruple over the next 50 years. Nearly 1/3 of all plastic packaging “escapes collection systems,” CNN Money reports.
