Hi, my name is Max and I am an 11-year-old boy who cares about the environment. On this blog, I will be talking about different types of plastics and their effect on the environment.
I got the idea for this blog at my local Chipotle. They use only plastic forks, knives and spoons. I asked my mom why they only use plastic forks, it is such a waste because people use them one time and throw them away. (Chipotle also does not have recycling bins even though they serve glass bottle drinks.) My mom and I thought that Chipotle should use metal utensils for people who eat their meals in the restaurant and only use plastic for take out orders, upon request.
When I got home from Chipotle, I went online to look up the different types of plastics used in products. I learned that plastic utensils are made from number 6 plastic, or Polystyrene, a type of plastic that is not recycled and can leach styrene into food. Styrene is considered a possible human carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. It may also disrupt hormones or affect reproduction.
The manufacturing of plastics is also a major cause of pollution. The Berkeley Plastics Task Force stated in a 1996 report that the plastic industry contributed 14 percent of the most toxic industrial releases--including styrene, benzene and trichloroethane--into the air. You can learn more about the bad effects of plastic at this web site: http://www.thegreenguide.com/products/Kitchen/Plastic_Containers/1.
After learning more about plastics, I emailed Chipotle and asked why they did not offer metal utensils in their restaurants. I also asked why there were no recycling bins. I have not yet heard back, but I will keep you posted. If you want to also email Chipotle to ask them to change their practices, you can do so here: http://www.chipotle.com/#flash/speak_comment
My goal now is to investigate more restaurants and see what I can do to help. Please check back for updates. I would also like to hear your comments, so please post them here.
Thank you!
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I am an 11-year-old boy who cares about the environment. On this blog, I will be talking about different types of plastics and their effect on the environment. I am not against all plastic, just single-use, non-recyclable plastic such as polystyrene utensils and containers used in restaurants. These plastic products are used once and then disposed of in land fills.
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3 comments:
I'm impressed that someone so young is taking action to help the environment.
I still see a lot of restaurants using polystyrene take out food containers. Even McDonalds stopped using polystyrene in the 1990's. More restaurants should follow their example.
This is something else to investigate.
Thank you for you comment. A lot of young people care about the environment.
I recently found that The Cheesecake Factory uses polystyrene take out boxes, so they are now on my list as well.
The year is 2017 and Chipotle is still using single use plastic utensils, paper bowls and paper bags for chips instead of re-usable items. I emailed them today with all these suggestions, I'm not giving up! With this wasteful practice, Chipotle is using over 200,000,000 (200 million paper bags a year!!) That's a lot of trees :(
By the way, good for you Max, if everyone in this would was as conscientious as you, the world would be a much better place. You are much older now and I hope you are still aware of these issues and fighting the good fight, if you are not, no big deal, it will always be in you and you can tap into it at anytime if you so choose.
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