Humans make a lot of garbage, right? The question is, "Who cares? Does it really matter?" After all, we have landfills for a reason. The truth is, the amount of waste we generate does matter. In most areas, non-recyclable waste goes to landfill. In modern landfills, waste is layered with a complex lining and drainage system, allowing it to break down naturally, minimizing environmental impact. However, a lot of waste never ends up in landfills. In 2021, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) research report pointed out that plastic products are the largest, most harmful and most persistent part of marine litter, accounting for at least 85% of the total marine litter, from the source to the ocean. Systems are under increasing threat.
The most obvious and disturbing effects of ocean plastics are the ingestion, suffocation and entanglement of hundreds of marine species. Marine wildlife such as seabirds, whales, fish and turtles mistake plastic waste for prey, and most die of starvation as their stomachs fill with plastic debris. When marine life ingests plastic debris, it's not just them that are harmed. The contaminants in the plastic they ingest enter the digestive system and, over time, start accumulating in the food web. This means that when we eat fish, we may be ingesting harmful plastics. The first step to changing this situation is to use environmentally friendly tableware.
Say you want to start using eco-friendly cutlery. Where do you start? How can you tell if something is environmentally friendly?
Environmentally friendly tableware is a material that is harmless to the human body, non-toxic and tasteless, easy to degrade, and has no pollution in the process of manufacturing, use and destruction. The product quality fully meets the national food hygiene requirements. Food containers with characteristics such as nanometers. Environmentally friendly tableware does not mean degradable tableware, and degradable tableware is just one type of environmentally friendly tableware.
There are some labels that can help you tell whether eco-friendly tableware is truly eco-friendly:
Recycled: This indicates that the product is made from recycled materials.
Low-waste: Low-waste products are either zero-waste solutions or produce significantly less waste than the usual alternatives. Most of the time, even the small waste generated can be composted or recycled.
100% Biodegradable: These products are made from easily biodegradable natural materials. At the end of their life cycle, you can easily compost them, so eco-friendly tableware doesn't pollute the environment like many plastics or stay in landfills for long.
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