You Are What You Don't Eat

The last time I left the United States was in September of 2000. And while it's understood that you can learn an awful lot from experiencing other cultures, most people from the 'States have all but sacrificed these lessons to the speed of their lives, the creatures comforts they are collecting, or other personal reasons - we usually don't leave the country any more. My last cross-the-border lesson was Spain and Morocco - that is, until I got married.

Granted, you are not supposed to learn much on your honeymoon. You're supposed to be blatantly ignoring the world around you while soaking up the "nuances" of your newly created partnership. But I'm a little strange and don't mind being that way. Our honeymoon vacation took us to the Cayman Islands just south of a country we're supposed to hate and just north of a another country we're supposed to be concerned about. I'll abandon the gushing details and say in between was paradise. While in paradise, I pulled along the side of the road to pick up garbage which had washed onto an otherwise beautiful rocky coastline. Like I said, strange.

What I learned was not granted to me from the differences between my otherwise generic American lifestyle. It was by what was exactly the same. Grand Cayman has a single hill on it, comically referred to as "The Mountain". The lesson? Running a close second is the landfill, described here: http://www.caymannetnews.com/2006/01/1010/point.shtml. That's correct, a 76 square mile island has a landfill fast approaching the highest elevation on an otherwise beautiful coral studded outcrop of land.

I took this little gem home with me when we returned to the states and set out to do a practical study of a single thing which would impact our tendency to pile up massive amounts of garbage, even in the most inappropriate circumstances. From February 1st to the 28th, I carried my own silverware, my own napkin, my own mug and my own plate everywhere I went to see how difficult it would be to not produce any garbage from my favorite required habit - eating. I expanded the list of places I would go to make this exercise worthwhile to more people. Although it is limited to where I live - Atlanta, GA - the US has become generic enough to apply this lesson to most urban and sub-urban locations.

I limited the list to locations where they do not usually provide a plate and reusable utensils. I used a rating system to point out partial successes, such as a place where they were agreeable to using my plate but had the burger wrapped individually as well. Here is a list of the locations I went to:

• Chipotle's
• McDonald's
• Chic Filet
• Burger King
• Wendy's
• Publix Deli
• Jason's Deli
• Kentucky Fried Taco Bell
• Backyard Burgers
• Einstein Brothers Bagels
• Moe's
• Mexi Cali
• Quizno's
• Schlotzky's
• Subway
• Panda Express
  

I broke the point system out according to how accommodating they were to the anti-garbage efforts of their customers. I accounted for locations where I thought the employee was putting up resistance that the store did not truly enforce.

6 - Fully accommodating. I could leave the restaurant without producing a single item of trash.
5 - Almost there. The restaurant produced garbage while making my food but I could avoid other outlays. An example is how McDonald's wraps sandwiches if they are unwilling to serve you one in the open.
4 - Not quite. The restaurant did not have alternatives to individually wrapped condiments that they were willing or able to provide. Bringing your own condiments would otherwise make this one a 6.
3 - Ehhh. A combination of 5 and 4. No real way around trash as a side effect of eating there.
2 - Not so good. The store would not place the food in my own container for real (logistics of drive-through) or fabricated reasons ("Sanitary Sir, I can't touch your cup").
1 - No good at all. Everything comes with garbage and they isn't a way around it. This amounts to a combination of 2, 5 and 4.

Now that you know all the criteria I set, here are the results of February, my "Month of Garbage-less Lunches".

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pLuJbcUHv4Xw2AIMCZIu7bg&gid=0

So in short if you want to make this a permanent habit to the fullest extent possible, keep your lunchtime outings to the franchises that are fully accommodating of your efforts:

• Chipotle's
• McDonalds
• KFC
• Moes
• Mexi Cali
• Subway
  

One last point about this study - you're going to be laughed at. I was snickered at consistently when I requested that the employees use my plate or bowl. I had a suburban woman tell me "isn't it a little strange to bring your own plate to a fast food restaurant", to which I answered "not nearly as odd as two mid thirty adults who still eat their food with plastic forks and knives". She got the point. So here's mine in more general wording: If you are conscious of the impact we have on our environment and are doing things to conserve resources, but you are not being laughed at, you are not doing enough. You have not broken out of the main stream and made people conscious of otherwise wasteful behavior. This is one thing you can do that will allow you to be more eco-friendly that most of your peers, save literally tons of waste annually, and still fits in your otherwise busy, comfortable, or personally taxing life.

To outfit myself for garbage-free meals:

1. A canvas bag that doubles as one of a handful of grocery bags.
2. A fork, knife and spoon from my kitchen drawer.
3. A Tupperware container long enough for a 6 inch sandwich but small enough to not be unwieldy.
4. A cloth napkin
5. A coffee mug - you don't even need ice if you use this instead of a paper cup for sodas.

So, enjoy your lunch! And let me know if you think of other restaurants to go.