Community | August 15, 2010 | 39 comments

China's Fight Against Disposable Chopsticks | 100 Acres of Trees Are Felled Every 24 Hours

source: http://www.latimes.com/media/alternatethumbnails/photo/2010-08/55565004-15123835.jpg

Image
EthicalVegan
China's fight against disposable chopsticks

To keep up with demand, 100 acres of trees need to be felled every 24 hours. But efforts to restrain the use of disposable wooden chopsticks face many obstacles.



By Daniel K. Gardner

August 15, 2010


China's Ministry of Commerce, together with five other ministries, issued this warning in June: "Companies making disposable chopsticks will face local government restrictions aimed at decreasing the use of the throwaway utensil.... Production, circulation and recycling of disposable chopsticks should be more strictly supervised."

With summer floods devastating southern, western and northeastern China, a massive oil spill smothering the Yellow Sea off the port of Dalian, 3,000 barrels of chemicals bobbing aimlessly but threateningly in the Songhua River in the northeast, and nearly half a million newly registered cars — just since January — on Beijing roads spewing who knows how much additional carbon dioxide into the air, you may think that the government is unnecessarily overreaching in waging a war on the disposable chopstick.

But start doing the math and the disposable chopstick, made largely from birch and poplar (and, less so, from bamboo, because of its higher cost) begins to look deeply menacing — an environmental disaster not to be taken lightly. Begin with China's 1.3 billion people. In one year, they go through roughly 45 billion pairs of the throwaway utensils; that averages out to nearly 130 million pairs of chopsticks a day. (The export market accounts for 18 billion pairs annually.)

Greenpeace China has estimated that to keep up with this demand, 100 acres of trees need to be felled every 24 hours. Think here of a forest larger than Tiananmen Square — or 100 American football fields — being sacrificed every day. That works out to roughly 16 million to 25 million felled trees a year. Deforestation is one of China's gravest environmental problems, leading to soil erosion, famine, flooding, carbon dioxide release, desertification and species extinction.
Get the best in Southern California opinion journalism delivered to your inbox with our Opinion L.A. newsletter. Sign up »

If the disposable chopstick has to go, you can be sure that its death will be a slow one. Calls to abandon the use-and-toss type began more than 10 years ago and have since persisted unabated. By 2006, the activism had become more strenuous: Citizens launched a BYOC (Bring Your Own Chopsticks) movement, which continues to gather momentum. And Greenpeace China, channeling Nancy Reagan, sponsored a "Say no to disposable chopsticks" campaign. In 2008, endangered orangutans (OK, they probably were just guys dressed as orangutans) took up the cause, bursting into cafeterias in China of large companies such as IBM, Microsoft and Intel to remind diners of the ecological perils of chopstick deforestation.

Yet, more than 10 years later, the targeted disposable remains with us. Why?

First, while we in the West don't give much thought to a chopstick "industry," in China, where 100,000 people in more than 300 plants are employed in the manufacture of the wooden utensils, it's most definitely a flourishing enterprise. And just as jobs trump environmental issues in the West (think the coal, oil and logging industries), the argument that 100,000 jobs are at stake is a refrain that carries considerable weight. As Lian Guang, president of the Wooden Chopsticks Trade Assn., told the China Daily in 2009, "The chopstick industry is making a great contribution by creating jobs for poor people in the forestry regions," adding that melamine-resin chopsticks are hardly a sanitary substitute with their "high formaldehyde content." His mention of melamine resin is an effective touch, I admit.

Then there are the restaurants. The alternative to wooden disposables is sterilizing the tableware (plastic, metal or durable wood chopsticks) after each use. But the cost differential is significant: Disposables run about a penny apiece, while sterilization ranges from 15 to 70 cents. Restaurants, especially the low-end ones, worry about passing the costs on to customers. And the worry would seem to be warranted: Consumer advocacy groups from 21 Chinese cities published an open letter in March arguing that the costs of sterilization should not be passed on to consumers as the food safety law obligates restaurants to provide free, clean and safe tableware.

The warning issued by the Ministry of Commerce would appear to be a step in the right direction. Realistically, though, it offers scant hope; it simply has no teeth. It doesn't address the specific restrictions to be imposed, nor the nature of consequences for violations. Most tellingly, it sidesteps making any particular agency responsible for enforcement.

That the Chinese leadership is now taking sides in the war over disposable chopsticks is nonetheless heartening. But in the end, the outcome will be determined by the people, who will decide whether carrying their own sticks and bearing the costs of reusables is too large a price to pay to protect China's quickly disappearing forests.

Daniel K. Gardner is a professor of history and the director of the program in East Asian studies at Smith College.



http://www.latimes.com/media/alternatethumbnails/photo/2010-08/55565004-15123835...
  1. groups:
    Community,   News and Politics,   Green,   Culture,   15 more
  2. tags:
    Deforestation,  Forests,  Chopsticks,  Disposable Chopsticks
  3.     
    |

39 comments // China's Fight Against Disposable Chopsticks | 100 Acres of Trees Are Felled Every 24 Hours

  • dariusvons
    • -1
      dariusvons  

    • this is bogus. china uses bamboo for manufacturing chopsticks... also paper, which by the way is the MAIN source of celulose for paper world wide. this is because bamboo grows quickly and in abundance... far more so than trees.

    • 1 year ago
  • manny0409
    • 0
      manny0409  

    • they should use metal chopsticks...when I was in China I had to use chopsticks when I went out since it was the only way that I could eat without using my hand, but I always thought that it would be good if everyone carried those metal chopsticks which also disassemble to be able to put into a container, making it easily portable.

    • 1 year ago
  • WeBelieve
  • ezrierin
    • -1
      ezrierin  

    • WARNING: Never use chopsticks in China unless you brought your own. Five star restaurants in China endeavor to be clean, but the Ma and Pa outfits, literally on the streets and sidewalks (set up much like a back yard barbecue), where most Chinese eat every day and where you will eat unless you are really wealthy or stupid, generally wash the wooden chopsticks and reuse them. This tends to spread a bunch of lovely diseases like hepatitis.
      Here is a hint for China:
      King Rama V of Siam or Thailand (1853 to 1910) is still revered in Thailand. The King brought Thailand into to the modern times of those days gone by, and consequently influenced Thailand to keep up the rest of the world ever since.
      It is said that King Rama V was once giving a banquet to visiting dignitaries from the foreign countries. The Thai King’s eating utensils were chopsticks; the dignitaries brought knives forks and spoons. It was then that
      King Rama V ordered that Thailand would dump the use of chopsticks and join the modern world by using knives forks and spoons. Many Thais cannot even use chopsticks today.
      China needs to catch up with Thailand and start using knives, forks, and spoons, as Thailand and most of the world uses today. I suspect that would then employ more then a measly 100,000 Chinese chopstick workers. Think about mining the oar, smelting and forging etc. to make knives, spoons, and forks, not to mention dish soap and sponges etc. It would probably employ millions of Chinese. Add clean energy and environmentally friendly production overall, and it’s a win-win situation for the environment as well, with no hepatitis to boot.

    • 1 year ago
  • alexandrek
  • cztheday
    • 0
      cztheday  
    • ezrierin:

      Hi, ez. Been up all night working on a brief and needed a break. I had not really considered the possibility that chopstick would be reused. The idea of getting hepatitis from eating a bowl of rice is horrifying! Never been to China and during my friendship with a fellow student who was from China I never ate with him. Do the Chinese simply cut up all their meat in advance so it can be picked up with the chopsticks or do they keep a knife handy for at least that task. I gather that they also dunk their food in sauces rather than spreading it around on food with a knife (I am thinking butter, but there are a number we use here in the States, of course). The hepatitis reference also made me wonder if everybody dips their bits of food in the same little sauce and spice bowls and whether THAT spreads disease as well when the chopsticks touch the contents of the bowls (or am I underestimating the precision with which the chopsticks are used? The one bit I wasn't certain of was that you said that you will eat at the Ma and Pa outfits unless you are very rich or stupid -- didn't quite register what that meant. Oh yeah, I am just FULL of questions as my face teeters toward the keyboard...

    • 1 year ago
  • WeBelieve
  • versasrev
  • ezrierin
  • ezrierin
    • 0
      ezrierin  
    • alexandrek:

      LOL! You make me laugh! YES, half of the time I hadn’t a clue what I was eating! Which was part of the fun! Thanks for reminding me!
      Boiling hot tea, or water, doesn’t do much good unless the bowl and chopsticks are submerged in the boiled water for a while. However, many diseases have got use to the heat, and it would have to be under pressure like an autoclave to get the germs all killed (flaccid wooden chopsticks. Giggles). Let’s face it, unless you eat at Holiday Inn in China all the time, chances are your going to get sick along the way. Believe it or not that is a good thing. After that you can eat practically anything on the streets. Yum! But you sound traveled so you know this.
      Here’s a plus! The addition of many types of germs to your intestines is a good thing! In eastern cultures they have less colon cancer. One reason is that the colon needs invaders (symbiotically) to stay healthy. Here in the West we are so clean that it causes cancer. Go figure.

    • 1 year ago
  • ezrierin
    • 0
      ezrierin  
    • cztheday:

      Okay, ah lets see. Butter, not very common in East Asia but catching on slowly. Most East Asians think we are gross for eating curdled milk products, like cheese and such. Giggles!
      “you will eat at the Ma and Pa outfits unless you are very rich or stupid.” Yes! Well you can eat at Five Star Hotels in most big cities, but it will cost you in two ways. The food in Five Star Hotels is EXPENSIVE; cost number one. They do not serve real Chinese food; cost number two. Ma and Pa make the real stuff and they are on the streets and sidewalks and alleyways. In rural China you eat whatever is growing out in the garden or field. Rural restaurants sit right along the road waiting for you. And talk about cheap! How about 5 barbequed chicken wings on a stick for 35 cents? You just have to ask the cook to pop the sitting in the sun “finished” product back on the hibachi to kill all the fly eggs that have been laying on them as they sat pre cooked in the hot sun for few hours. Sounds gross but works just fine thank you (NOTE: Americans already eat an average of 15 pounds of insects a year in their food). Besides, “When in Rome…”
      CAUTION: Always get your cook to re-cook anything that has been cooling in the sun on a table. I learned that the hard way in Phuket Thailand and got amebic dysentery. Ended me up in the hospital and cost me a big $200 for three days with second to non medical care. They also do not cure it there as you will get it again anyway. They treat it until you and your amebas call a truce and live together. ALSO: Most US Physicians do not know how to cure amebic dysentery, so they refer to their books and give you only half of the medication (Flagyl) actually needed to get rid of it. Tell your Doctor you may need to double your dose and why. Been there done that.
      Sharing spit with anyone is brain dead. So the prospect of dipping together, mmm, not so much. I always had my own dipping stuff, so no probs.
      “precision with which the chopsticks are used?” Practice makes perfect! I can pick up one grain of rice with mine. It gets easy.
      FUN NOTE: Most of the world eats every meal over an open fire, a hibachi, or propane barbeque set up. Most meals are eaten on the streets with family and neighbors. This basic behavior has not changed since people came clopping along.

    • 1 year ago
  • leetch
  • Nephwrack
  • bigloutech
  • shareen83
    • 0
      shareen83  

    • seriously the first thing that came into my head when reading this was "why don't they just make them out of plastic" and then i scrolled down and noticed everybody else said the same thing... If it's so obvious to us, why are they still cutting down trees? i mean its china they make everything out of cheap plastic anyway so why not chop sticks.

    • 1 year ago
  • EthicalVegan
  • simguy665
  • wellhunggimp
    • +1
      wellhunggimp  
    • Image

    • I've seen some pretty nice chopsticks. I had been under the assumption that Chinese people would use some nice, reusable ones... sort of like how most of us don't use plastic utensils at home. That's what I get for assuming. I want chopsticks like these...

    • 1 year ago
  • Nephwrack
  • alexandrek
  • wellhunggimp
  • wellhunggimp
  • Valence
    • 0
      Valence  

    • Times have gotten so bad that,the Chinese have to "Cut Back" on their traditional utensils.

      Maybe if every time we cut down one tree we plant two.

    • 1 year ago
  • EthicalVegan
    • 0
      EthicalVegan  
    • Valence:

      They're cutting down ONE HUNDRED ACRES of trees each and every day! As much as I truly love your idea (old-school dreamer that I am), it can't happen... UNFORTUNATELY. [And where would they get the tree seedlings?]

    • 1 year ago
  • ii386
  • EthicalVegan
    • +1
      EthicalVegan  
    • ii386:

      I just can't dishonor my friends who own and run these restaurants. And, besides, I grew up using chopsticks for certain foods, so won't change.

      My son's always saying to me, "It makes no sense, but it just plain wouldn't TASTE the same if you used a fork and spoon," and I really agree strongly.

      Maybe it's merely about respect.

    • 1 year ago
  • EthicalVegan
  • donkeyfly69
    • 0
      donkeyfly69  

    • here in sac, just about anywhere you can buy a pack of 100 plastic ones for a buck. just carry them in your purse or car or whatever

    • 1 year ago
  • EthicalVegan
    • +2
      EthicalVegan  
    • donkeyfly69:

      Oh, dear, plastic sure isn't the solution. Plastic is just as bad, believe me. And you're helping support BP and the other liars by encouraging that. So consider this... I have metal chopsticks, which means they're washable and, therefore, reusable. I have a little holder for them so, when and if I go to a vegan restaurant that serves, for instance, Chinese food, I just use my own chopsticks, then put them back in the container to take home and wash.

    • 1 year ago
  • EthicalVegan
  • eden49
  • cztheday
  • alexandrek
  • ii386
  • bc_f
    • bc_f [removed]  
    • This comment was removed as a violation of community guidelines.
  • Nephwrack
  • Omnomynous
  • CiiMONSTR
  • Nephwrack
more from Community:
from the community

top videos