Nov 2018: To-Go or Not To-Go?

Hi All! Welcome to the second monthly post of The Sustainable Millennial blog! I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty sure most people have a favorite restaurant in town that always serves way too much food, at a cheap price, and in a totally delicious way. I’d also wager that most people usually leave those restaurants either with an overstuffed stomach (and happy heart) or a “to-go box”.

While I’m not persuading against big meals (enjoy however you want to!), I can’t help but think about every time people request the to-go box. From my perspective, the typical life of a to-go box is simple: it is taken home, placed in the fridge, emptied out the next day, and thrown away. I have seen some of my friends wash and reuse the containers if they are plastic, but most containers seem to be thrown away immediately.

kitchenkarate.com Amazon.com costcobusinessdelivery.com

What most affects the environmentally-friendliness of the to-go box is the type of material used. Examples from my experience have been Chinese paper to-go boxes, hard plastic boxes, or Styrofoam containers that fold shut. While the Chinese paper to-go box might be the most sustainable choice of the three, given that the paper base will decompose in a landfill much faster than Styrofoam or plastic will, the consumer (you) never really gets to decide what the restaurant uses. Therefore, you can take your sustainability into your own hands by bringing along your own reusable container! The best kind of container you could bring would be:

1) big enough to hold the leftovers from your plate, and

2) has a tight-fitting lid and would survive the drive/bike/walk home

Great examples of reusable containers include plastic Tupperware and glass pyrex containers. I prefer glass pyrex containers because it is safer to heat your leftovers in, especially if the plastic contains BPA. However, the brittle quality of glass makes it much more likely to break on your drive/bike/walk home. If you’re able to transport it home safely, kudos to you; otherwise I’d suggest using plastic Tupperware and then transferring the food to ceramic or glass when you get ready to heat it and eat it again. Below is an example of glass pyrex containers with leakproof lids from Amazon:

---Glass round containers with snapping lid, 4 for $17.00

I’m also not the only one who has thought of this! There are several organizations, such as Takeout Without, who have done much more extensive work on this issue and are great resources if you want to learn more.

While bringing your own container to a restaurant might sound embarrassing or tacky, it really doesn’t have to be. If you think about it, you’re saving the restaurant one of their to-go boxes, one less that the restaurant will later have to re-stock and pay for. PRO TIP: if you want to be more discreet about it, you can always carry it in a purse, tote bag, or backpack and just bring it out once the meal is complete.

Together, we can cut down on unnecessary waste, reduce the volume of your trash can, and promote awareness of the amount of materials we consume as ‘consumers’, all while enjoying those tasty leftovers. :)

#reduceyourwaste #takeoutwithout #sustainable #environmentallyfriendly