The Disposable Chopsticks Debate
The Olympic flame for the 2008 Beijing “Green Games” has been extinguished, but amid the reports of silver iodide missiles being shot into the sky to prevent and promote rain on demand, was something a bit more mundane: the debate over the use of disposable wooden chopsticks.
As the world’s largest producer of disposable chopsticks—about 63 billion a year—China is at the forefront of the environmental brouhaha over the cheap, one-use utensils or yicixing kuaizi, as they are known to the Chinese.
In 2006, the country responded to claims of deforestation and waste caused by rampant disposable chopstick use by imposing a 5% consumption tax as well as a 30% price increase on the chopsticks. The move sent shock waves throughout Japan, the largest importer and consumer—at about 98% of the market and 30 billion pairs a day—of waribashi, as they are known in that country. The Japanese countered fears of a shortage of their beloved waribashi by declaring they could turn to cheaper (but lower quality) suppliers like Vietnam or Indonesia (something that hasn’t happened). They also cut back on indiscriminate use of the chopsticks. In convenience stores across the nation, customers were only given a pair of disposable chopsticks if they asked for them; in some stores, a nominal charge (about 4 U.S. cents) was added.
Lian Guang, founder and president of the Wooden Chopsticks Trade Association in China’s Heilongjiang Province, said in a recent Wall Street Journal article that, contrary to popular belief, disposable chopsticks do not cause deforestation. In fact, disposable chopsticks were invented by the Japanese in the late nineteenth century as a way to use up wood scraps. Guang and other advocates also argue that the chopsticks, typically made from bamboo, white birch and poplar, are the products of fast-growing trees. Moreover, they point out that disposable chopsticks are cheap and convenient, making them easily available to all; hygienic, helping stem the tide of epidemics like Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS); and economically beneficial, providing over 100,000 jobs in China alone.
These claims notwithstanding, the lead up to the Beijing Olympics saw Greenpeace China launch a “Say No to Disposable Chopsticks” campaign that resulted in over 300 Beijing restaurants jettisoning disposable chopsticks in favor of reusable plastic ones. It’s a campaign that has been joined by Chinese pop musicians and others throughout the country and has spearheaded a “Bring Your Own Chopsticks” (B.Y.O.C) movement urging diners to cut back on disposable chopstick use by bringing their own set of chopsticks from home.
The environmental movement against disposable chopsticks has gained momentum in other countries too. This summer in Taiwan, a country which goes through 5 to 6 billion pairs of the utensils a year, about 10,000 convenience stores and supermarket chains banned free disposable chopsticks. Even in Japan, where the tradition of waribashi is deep-rooted, the government recently approved an ambitious plan to cut refuse production by 60% and “to promote a recycling society,” which included an appeal to citizens to bring their own chopsticks while dining out. The Japanese government also plans to explore the possibility of collecting the disposable chopsticks and turning them into biofuel.
In the West, where the popularity of Asian food has skyrocketed in recent decades, there is an increasing awareness of the environmental concerns surrounding disposable chopsticks. At the vanguard of this movement is third-generation Japanese-American Donna Keiko Ozawa. Her “Waribashi Project: San Francisco,” which premiered in conjunction with United Nations World Environment Day in 2005, featured sculptures made out of 180,000 disposable chopsticks. According to Ozawa, “While also being a pan-Asian icon in modern consumerist society, waribashi, disposable chopsticks, pose a great problem to our environment through deforestation and destruction of forest habitats.”
And, while Ozawa and a growing number of others promote the B.Y.O.C. movement as part of the push to eliminate the use of disposable chopsticks, it is uncertain how many people here—and elsewhere—will ultimately choose to “take up their own sticks” in the battle to go green.
For disposable chopsticks in the news, see:
Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120243065514952215.html?mod=todays_us_page_one
National Public Radio
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19203227
Recycling International
http://www.recyclinginternational.com/search/search_result.aspx?keywords=disposable%20chopsticks
Reuters
World Watch: Life-Cycle Studies
Inter Press Service/Global Information Network
Donna Keiko Ozawa’s “Waribashi Project: San Francisco”
http://www.well.com/user/indigo/donna/waribashi/mainpage.htm
August 26th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
i think you will find this conversation i had yesterday interesting:
From: TREE HUGGER
Date: Aug 23, 2008 1:04 PM
http://www. wheatware. com/shop/index. php
Wheatware. com™ exclusively distributes Wheatware™ and Cornware™ products in the USA. Our products are manufactured in America from annually renewable crops grown in America. Who we are is a company of people committed to environmental values.
Purchasing our crop-derived Wheatware™ products, instead of forest-derived wood or cardboard products, helps supports Wheatware. com’s mission to annually save millions of virgin forest trees and their precious habitats. Within these habitats, a multitude of species live. As these habitats are destroyed, species are perishing everyday. We also recognize the importance of our forests acting as air conditioning systems for our planet. With each forest lost, Earths capacity to cool itself becomes diminished.
Forest-derived products, such as chopsticks, clothes hangers, golf tees, cardboard drink coasters, and drumsticks, combined, cause the destruction of over 30 million forest trees per year, typically by “clearcutting” (see deforestation).
Our commitment is to continue to offer an ever expanding number of products which replace virgin forest wood products in order to help secure a sustainable future for our children and generations to come. We thank you for buying our Wheatware™ and Cornware™ products…..you make a difference.
From: Kindness of Strangers E_CO Member
Date: Aug 23, 2008 12:15 PM
i did check it out, but my question to you is why promote any disposable products? What is wrong with carrying a spoon in your bag and refusing to use disposables? A few like toilet paper are necessary but the rest are not. Namasté, nan
From: TREE HUGGER
Date: Aug 24, 2008 10:48 AM
Because as we all know not everyone is going to carry that spoon and this is a great alternative for them, especialy for the golfer. I know many people that golf and they are forever replacing their tees that they left on the course. It is alos great for people who have over sensitive teeth now they can use a straw made from wheat instead of one from plastic. Some people have become so dependent on plastics and forest destroying products that hopefully this will make them stop and think there are alternatives out there. God knows China is not going to give up there chop sticks to use the fork and golfers are not going to give up their tees and we all know the game of golf will continue to go strong.
I do wish everyone thought like you but they dont and until that day comes we need to help them make baby steps
From: Kindness of Strangers E_CO Member
Date: Aug 24, 2008 9:57 AM
Thank you for an answer btw i HAD very sensitive teeth, could not eat most fruits or tomatoes for years (it happened after i went on a 10 day water only fast and foolishly damaged my teeth after the fast by using undiluted lemon juice to season my veggies instead of salt. took the coating right off my teeth, now i use this tooth powder and my teeth are fine unless i eat some very acidic fruit or tomatoes then i have to keep the tooth powder in my mouth for a few minutes to fix them again. i talk about these products in my eco extremist videos, there is not a picture of the eco dent tooth powder in this graphic i did but it is the same brand as the eco friendly dental floss.
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June 20th, 2011 at 11:11 am
[...] where do the chopsticks used in China come from? As the world’s largest producer of disposable chopsticks —about 63 billion a year— (some other, like Friends of the Earth Hong Kong say 80 billion) one [...]
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