Ask Lemmy

If you want to talk about personal waste, the problem is two-end: reducing consumption (new stuff) and reducing disposal. Some plastic wrapping, some packaging and single use items are required in some applications (e.g. for sanitary reasons), but we can find alternatives (e.g. bamboo biodegradable cutlery) and look to use longer lasting items over single use. The second is the lack of segragation of waste streams and appropriate facilities to reclaim material from waste. Even if something is biodegradable, if it ends in a landfill it can release methane or if burned it releases CO2. Many landfills have most of their emissions coming from organic and yard waste, and diverting that to compost, mulch and natural gas digester projects.

There are a lot of problems but there are also a lot of solutions. You will have to set aside a level of waste you are willing to accept, and work towards places you can improve or propose items or support efforts that can help. Zero waste for everywhere and everything is an impossible goal that strictly pursuing that will achieve nothing but make you depressed.

For restaurants specifically, when you eat out you can go to places with washable plates and cutlery instead of paper/plastic ones, or for the cheaper end, ones that use bamboo cutlery instead of plastic.

It's unfortunately a cost thing.

If you want to avoid the single use waste, you have to patronise more expensive restaurants

In my experience it's fast food or fast food adjacent places that are the worst for disposable items. The more expensive the meal, the only things going in the bin are any leftovers.

It really shouldn't be that way, but it is.

My issue with eating out is more the cost than the waste. Both are ridiculous though.

Begging screaming and crying for public canteens in our future. The individualization of cooking and therefore cleaning is a huge part of our wastefulness imo

To me the part that seems the most wasteful is wasting the time of badly paid workers when you could just prepare food for yourself instead, and to a lesser extent the waste of your money going to a corporation, and the waste of real estate. I don't think things like water use and extra plastic/cardboard trash associated with food is all that impactful or worth worrying about. That said I personally avoid going out to eat except in the rare cases when it is an unavoidable social requirement, so a few times a year at most.

Yep, I hate it too. At least the places I eat at (by myself, not with my wife) barely give you a napkin, you just get the meal and accompanying grease, but still.

So is breathing wasteful since you’re turning o2 into co2 exacerbating the green house issue?

If you mean the waste of the lives of vulnerable individuals, yes, this bothers me tremendously to the point where it's sometimes difficult to function. I have trouble getting worked up about plastic cups next to actual atrocity against intelligent creatures.

no

kind of disgusted at the waste created by going out to eat?

I'm kinda annoyed they want me to segregate it into three different trashcans

Rich ppl prob create that much waste casually just eating at home idrc about what working class ppl do