Poet Julia Carney’s said: “Little drops of water, little grains of sand, make the mighty ocean.” In that respect, every household and every restaurant who are implementing the use-your-own-cutlery concept for takeaway would reduce plastic usage to a great extent. To answer the question regarding not using plastic cutlery when ordering in, I think it is possible. In today’s restaurant-obsessed and especially takeaway-obsessed world, plastic is used in bulk as cutlery, having a very adverse effect on the environment. Not sending cutlery when a person is taking food home or ordering in, is a simple and an efficient idea at a time when everyone is striving to be kinder to the Earth. However, in order to make this process hassle free, both restaurants and customers must cooperate.
The prime issue that is being raised here is home delivery (a method that is largely preferred), where restaurants may have to provide plastic cutlery. A solution to this can be that restaurants, while doing door delivery, bring the food in their dishes, hand it over to the customer, have them empty it into their own cutlery and then return the dishes. This method is already implemented by restaurants that deliver sadya (traditional meal for Keralites). Not using plastic cutlery, is, in many ways, also both hygienic and healthy, as hot food is not enclosed in plastic containers as soon as they are cooked. This is a wonderful idea, that if worked on, can soon have all restaurants not using plastic cutlery and as a result, a healthier planet.
- The reader is a student.
