Living in Hong Kong

Whenever I eat at restaurants like Cafe de Coral or Yoshinoya, I always get a set of utensils that consist of plastic spoon and disposable chopsticks. If we only have a counter in each shop that tells us how many restaurant patrons eat there each day, we can estimate how many of these spoons and chopsticks are thrown out with little chance of being recycled.

People were asked (in Japan) and they unanimously vote against the use of disposable chopsticks. However, it's only recently that some dining places in Hong Kong realized this. (I see some restaurants already serve plastic chopsticks but I find it difficult to use them.)

The good thing is that some of them have already pledged to phase out these disposable chopsticks (otherwise known as waribashi). They are Yoshinoya (35 branches) Genki Sushi (31 branches) and Genryoku Sushi (19 branches).

The world consumes 80 billion pairs of waribashi each year, the bulk of which comes from China, Japan, and Taiwan.

But what about take outs (or what they call here take aways)? I am sure the restaurant won't send you the plastic chopsticks. The resolution: minimize or eliminate the habit of take outs. Instead, eat in the restaurant. Otherwise, you can just refuse the disposable chopsticks and use your own in your house, workplace, or conveniently bring one of your own.

Oh, by the way. Do you know the 15 things I learned about eating in Hong Kong?