There’s no need to be fancy! If you don’t want to buy a set of bamboo utensils, just use the utensils you already have! Sure, these are cute and convenient, but zero waste doesn’t have to mean shelling out hundreds of dollars for the fanciest, sustainable products. It means reusing, reusing, reusing.
Maybe you’re a camper (or a glamper?) and already have a portable cutlery set. Why not use them regularly instead of once or twice a year?
The biggest point is: avoid single-use plastic utensils whenever possible! Ideally, we eat every day, hopefully more than once. Anticipate that when you leave the house and bring your utensils with you… just in case! That way you don’t have to rely on single-use items just because you forgot your reusables at home.
What about “compostable” utensils?
Well, they’re not really compostable. At least 99% of the ones I have encountered. Most of them are only compostable under certain conditions in commercial compost facilities. In other words, you can’t just chuck them into your compost pile. I mean, you can, but you’ll just have fully formed utensils next season sitting in a big pile of dirt. I know from experience.
And even if they are truly compostable, if we don’t have to use single-use items, we really shouldn’t… If we are aware of the problem, and we are, we need to do our best to not contribute to it. Reusables are the easiest solution!
Zero Waste California 