Good Lifestyle

As restaurants reopen throughout the country, homeowners go long lengths to ensure the safety of clients and employees in the implementation of new strict health and safety guidelines.Recommended by the CDC Avoid the propagation of coronavirus.

However, these new practices reverses all the major recent advances in reducing the amount of plastic used in the restaurant industry, which is the worst news for our planet.

At the beginning of the pandemic, for example, fears of propagating Covid-19 usingReusable bags Convinced many cities to pick up their prohibitions on plastic bags. Moreover, like the entirerestaurant The industry offset to take away and delivery, single-use plastic food containers and utensils made a huge return.

Like CNBCreports"Single-use plastic overvoltage is a major blow to the fight against plastic pollution, which should increase by 40% over the next decade,According to a report of the Global World Wildlife Fund. In fact, scientists believe that there will be more plastic than fish in our oceans by 2050 if we do not seriously define our plastic use.

"Environmental benefits are definitely real", Sandra Noonan, director of sustainability of Just Sale,CNBC said. If you like their salads, you know that just Salad had an excellent program in place before the pandemic by producing reusable salads, which saved the company from producing more than 75,000 pounds of plastic per year. But once the coronavirus struck, the salad chain stopped the reusable program, closed their restaurants and focused only on delivery and take-out orders only, which led to the use of more disposable packaging.

The most boring problem? There has been no sufficient evidence that reusable products can transmit COVID-19. As John Hocevar, Greenpeace Ocean Campaign, highlighted the CNBC, "the plastic industry seizes on the pandemic as an opportunity to try to convince people that single-use plastic is needed to protect ourselves and that reusable is dirty and dangerous. The fact that one or other of these things is supported by the best available science was irrelevant. "

Restaurants realize this problem and already try to brake their revenvoi with plastic. For example, the salad started to ask customers to choose to receive plastic utensils with their delivery or order on their online ordering service. From it, the company has reduced the use of the 88% plastic utensil. Now they work with third-party delivery applications to create an opt-in similar to Plastics a general change, reportsCNBC.

To exit plastic, restaurants can also search for single-use compostable options for delivery, take-out and dinner supplies, as well as research recycling programs available in their area (and what they do or do do not accept). As a consumer, you can do your part by noting in your delivery or your take-away orders that you do not need utensils (you have everything you need at home, anyway!). You can also talk to local restaurant owners on their plastic use and ask them to consider greener options, such as compostable single-use products. For more, check these40 ways to stay safe when restaurants reopen near you.