Ask Lemmy

Go to a real restaurant??

I just wanted to mention that using some water to wash dishes isn't wasteful at all. Also a dish washer uses much less water than you'd think.

You're talking about fast food. And even them are slowly (very slowly) moving toward reusable/washable stuff.

Some fast food, if eating there (not to-go) have limited waste, as far as the customer side is concerned. Actual restaurants, aside from straws everything's reusable. And they're probably a bit more efficient than cooking at home, too.

It might just be a case of stopping supporting places that are not moving in line with the time.

...are we describing the same restaurants? Unironically all the restaurants I go to generate less waste than me cooking at home lol...

As in, every time I go to a restaurant they would always bring in washable dishes/utensils, and I assume they would probably have to fill the dishwashers to the brim (in contrast to me living alone & only filling up half each time). The one time I ordered a takeout, the restaurant put all the food in insanely high-quality takeout boxes that were freezer and microwave friendly, I used them for meal prep for a full year...

Granted these are fine dining and all cost a fortune. I guess fast food/takeouts do describe that a bit better

Sounds like you're describing fast food rather than restaurants. Going out to eat, for me, is going to a restaurant. I don't consider that super wasteful. Restaurants use washable plates and silverware. The travel with the vehicle is wasteful. But it's not especially wasteful.

Yes. Fast food is super wasteful. Especially if you're in a region that still uses styrofoam. But it's probably less wasteful than it was when any of us were children.

I mean I get where you're coming from, but if you consider the water to wash dishes wasted, I'm afraid there isn't really any food that is not wasteful, except maybe berries straight from the bush...

I’ve at least been never using cup lids or straws and never taking drink carriers when [they're] offered (what a massive waste of cardboard!).

1. lids and straws are absolutely insignificant against the whole.
2. cardboard drink carriers use a rougher kind of cardboard without dyes or wax or plastic, and it's on the end of the spectrum with the least impact to the environment.

...the bag and wrapper.

You may have picked a class of restaurant that produces the most hard-to-biodegrade waste, and I'm not sure it's proper to paint an entire industry based on its worst members. It's like the sub-prime mortgage crisis but for restaurant and waste.

“cook at home!”

I'm not sure you're comparing two values with the same magnitude.

I wonder if this is just something you notice as you get older.

Your writing suggests a member of a cohort that isn't even close to getting 'older'. As an American Millennial, in a country with a rapidly-declining life expectancy, growing old may not be a valid concern.

peiple

A hat on a hat.

But that also wastes a lot of freshwater from dish washing

I'm going to pick on this one point. A high end dishwasher appliance only use 2.4 gallons (9L) of fresh water, while even average dishwashers use about 5 to 6 gallons. To put that in perspective an 8 minute shower likely uses 17 gallons.

So dishwashing is a tiny tiny waste, if you can even call it a waste.

If you think what you have to throw out as the consumer is wasteful, take a look in the kitchens of these places and tell me that it's any better. Most foods that have to be prepped in advance must be separated by single-use parchment/wax paper, then wrapped in plastic. When ready to use, use a glove for a few uses to take the prepped food out of the wrap, remove the paper separating it all, and chuck it out. It could have been prepped a week ago, or only two hours ago for fresh use, you still throw out all this paper and plastic wrapping. And then the cleaning, there is an inexcusable amount of paper towel used for various purposes, from drying your hands to wiping a counter/table, etc. And it's all thrown out. Some restaurants will use towels and kitchen rags, but then you have so many to wash and clean, it's usually done by a third-party service that has to drive to pick it all up, drive to a central laundry stop, do the laundry, and then drive it all back to get done again. And if you are in a place that has a washing machine in-house, it's a drop in the bucket in solving real waste issues.

You had me until "wastes a lot of freshwater from dishwashing" now you are just picking things to get mad about.

Yes I agree, eating out, specially fastfood is super wastefull for no reason at all.

Generally there should be more products offered as unpacked versions: where you can bring your own conatiner and fill out the things you need at the store and pay in kilos / litres and not in pieces. Unfortunately we are not there yet.

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

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

Are you referring mainly to fast food places or is it like that even at regular restaurants where you live? If I go to my local pizzeria or really any restaurant that isn't a fast food chain, there won't be any wrappers, single use cups or anything like that. Food will be served on plates with metal cutlery, drinks in drinking glasses etc. About the only single-use thing would be napkins I guess.

Funny enough,you produce far more waste and environmental impact if you cook alone or for a small household.

From an environmental perspective a communal cafeteria with set times is actually king.

And yes, I know the solution would be "cook at home!" But that also wastes a lot of freshwater from dish washing

I don't think this is a good point. Just by living you're going to be using resources of some kind, it's simply unavoidable. I would worry less about trying to consume zero resources and more about particularly harmful things, like single-use plastics. Especially since fresh water is not an issue in some places, like where I am.

Honestly, if you're going to a table service restaurant, it might be even better than eating at home. You're not going to get much plastic waste from single use items like you would with fast food, and because of the scale of the operation I could believe that restaurants are creating less waste per meal than individuals cooking at home. Think of a case of chicken breast versus individually packaged ones and the amount of plastic each uses, for example.

I came to say actually its a bit more efficient but it sounds like you mean fast food. I mean when I hear out to eat I think waitress, silver and dinnerware type thing. I mean even casual dining like tgif or such and heck steak and shake you can sit down and get that. Also if you have ever seen technology connections, dishwashers are insanely efficient water wise reusing it over and over till it gets dirty.

Stop eating at fast food places

Out to eat..... Bag and wrapper? Straws and cups? That's not going out to eat.

I could understand homecooking and when ordering food, as that stuff comes in disposable packaging.

But when going out to eat? Drinks come in a glass or cup, food comes on a plate, side dishes in bowls. I'm sure the kitchen produces waste, but you don't really get to see it.

Single use plastic should he illegal for most things. Yes, it might be inconvenient to have to carry your own thermos or whatever, but filling the ocean with plastic is worse than inconvenient

I'm guessing, this is what a drink carrier looks like, in case anyone else is wondering:

I'm disgusted by it.

But I've also reached the point where I've accepted that humanity will absolutely destroy this planet and there's not much that we can do about it.

I still try to minimize my waste, but I do so simply to make myself feel better in the short term, not because I think it's actually going to make a difference in the end.

I agree, I think part of the subconcious luxury is having lots of stuff used and wasted on you, on the otherhand though cooking food at a central canteen is always going to be more efficient and less wasteful than everyone individually cooking at home so shrugs when I go out I just only support local restaurants and try to avoid the ones that are blatantly wasteful.

The amount of packaging we use once and then just throw away is hideous.

In Germany they put a bounty on glass bottles to encourage people to collect and return for reusing and I wish we would standardize more/all packaging like this and reuse everything over and over.

Freshwater is not wasted. Hot water is wasted unless your water heating comes from renewable energy (rare), so wash as cold as possible, but freshwater is not wasted. It is trivial (though it does cost money!) to treat waste water from your cleaning (including your toilets) and turn it back into drinkable fresh water. I know cities generally dump their treated sewage back into the river, but it is drinkable water and the next city downstream will take it in.

Like you said, most of it is paper so I think it’s fine. I am more concerned with snacks and shit which are wrapped in plastic and aluminum foil.

Then again older peiple probably waste the most, but I’m just guessing.

You may be guessing wrong, then. That is coming from a 50+.

when eating at restaurants, wrappers, cups, drink carriers

Stop eating at fast-food, maybe?

My spouse and I have not been offered a straw, or a cup with a lid, packages or wrappers of any sort since we've quit going to fast-food (or joint selling any kind of industrially processed ~~turd~~ food), that was some 20 or 30 years ago.

We get served in a real plate, use real silverware (sorry, I don't know the English word to say 'fork, knife and spoon'), drink (no soda) in a real glass and have our coffee served in a real cup. LIke we woudl at home save the food is not cooked by us but is also fresh and not prepackaged (it helps to locate those restaurants that are real restaurants, not the many that are just microwaving prepackaged stuff)