Summer is the season of plastic and disposable dinnerware. I
get the practicality of it. With backyard meals, lugging the glass and china
out to the deck can feel like a bit of effort and having kids running around
the back yard with a cold drink in a breakable glass can be a bit of a worry.
Then
there’s the chance that cutlery will get lost in the grass or fall through the
cracks in the deck. If you’re feeding a
crowd it just seems easier to use disposable.
Look in any store for outside dishes and the first thing
you’ll find are brightly-coloured cups, plates and bowls made of some
un-numbered plastic. Disposable dinnerware is often plastic or Styrofoam.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
Americans throw out about 113 billion disposable cups, 29 billion disposable
plates and 39 billion disposable utensils each year. That’s a lot of
landfill, not to mentions the environmental impact of what goes into making
them in the first place.
Summer simplicity doesn’t have to mean disposable. Nor are
the only options for eating outside plastic. There are lots of great options
for picnic and back-deck dishes that are reusable, non-toxic or at the very
least, compostable.
