Resource Confessional

[LoganCircle]

At coffee shops, quick-prep, takeout, and fast-food restaurants, do you:

• Take a handful of napkins instead of the number you actually need?
  
• Order your food to go and then eat it in the restaurant?
  
• Use disposable cups, plates, and cutlery instead of readily available reusable options? (Like when you're reading the paper at Starbucks on Saturday morning?)
  
• Ask for cardboard beverage carriers when you only have two drinks?
  
• Use an insulated paper coffee sleeve when your coffee's not really that hot?
  
• Not recycle when there are clearly marked recycling containers fifteen feet away?
  

I see people doing these things all of the time and it drives me nuts! I know there are motivational, educational, and attitudinal barriers to addressing the larger issue of resource overconsumption, but there's no reason to be needlessly wasteful. I guess I get my panties in a wad too easily..

[DonRocks]

You know what my sin is?

I use two of the wooden coffee stirrers at Starbuck's instead of one.

There, I said it.

(I also furtively speed up to get in the door when I see other people approaching out of the corner of my eye, but that's another issue I suppose.)

[shogun]

You know what my sin is?

I use two of the wooden coffee stirrers at Starbuck's instead of one.

There, I said it.

Hi, I'm Matt, and I sometimes drink iced venti lattes, and order them as such.

[DCJono]

I stuff the extra paper napkins in my desk and use them. I'm also guilty of using a cardboard coffee holder for only two drinks. My car only has one cup holder.

Sorry I'm ruining your day.

[hillvalley]

You know what my sin is?

I use two of the wooden coffee stirrers at Starbuck's instead of one.

There, I said it.

(I also furtively speed up to get in the door when I see other people approaching out of the corner of my eye, but that's another issue I suppose.)

There's help for people like you

How about grabbing a handful of ketchup, mayo, mustard, etc. packets?

[DanCole42]

I take as many plastic utensils as inconspicuously possible from Cosi, store them in my desk, and then provide them to my officemates for use with their lunches.

I'm like the Robin Hood of disposable flatware.

[demandalicious]

How about grabbing a handful of ketchup, mayo, mustard, etc. packets?

I am a mustard packet packrat.

I bring my own plate and utensils to work from home, and simply wash them after I use them. I keep them in my desk along with the stockpile of brown mustard packets that I have swiped from catered meetings. Using washable utensils is a habit that is easily adopted if you're looking to reduce your eco footprint.

I also have a tree in my office and I hug it every day, in case you were wondering.

[qwertyy]

Using washable utensils is a habit that is easily adopted if you're looking to reduce your eco footprint.

Plastic utensils are washable! Since I started this job ten months ago, I haven't once remembered to bring in a fork, knife, and spoon from home. (Yes, I do realize how idiotic that is.) So I have one of each in plastic, and I wash them every day with my tupperware.

I'm also a plastic bag miser. I wash and reuse plastic Ziplock baggies--half, I think out of environmentalism, half out of profound cheapness.

[mktye]

I am a whore for ziploc baggies. The bigger the better (I can hardly wait to get my hands on some of those new Big Bags). And, when it comes to the one-gallon and the elusive-but-oh-so-versatile two-gallon sizes, those tiny grocery store boxes containing only 10-20 bags are just not enough to satisfy me -- I buy the big commercial 250-count boxes. However, I do reuse those that are used for storing bread and other baked goods.

And you don't even want to hear about my pre-cut half-sheet-sized parchment paper habit.

[bigpinot]

When I get coffee from WF, I still do the double-cup move. Those cardboard sleeves get hung up in my car's cupholders, and it drives me insane. I also hoard paper napkins in my desk drawer but, since I eventually use them for their intended purpose, I don't feel too guilty about it.

[ol_ironstomach]

Hi. My name is Dave, and I horde sporks from Taco Bell.

I also save extra Wet-Naps and packets of Cajun Sparkle from Popeye's. But then I have to be really careful not to confuse the two. Unless I'm eating at Taco Bell.

Thank you. This has been liberating.

[demandalicious]

Plastic utensils are washable!

Big ups! You are not the norm though, unfortunately. Many of us have been conditioned to associate plastic utensils with trashcans.

One conservation organization that I worked with for many years did not even provide plastic utensils, foam plates or paper cups for coffee to its employees. Then again, they were running dishwashers on 5 floors every single night, which can be considered just as socially irresponsible as creating a lot of waste.

[B.A.R.]

I grab as many paper napkins as I can, as they work great when I need to clean the windows of my Hummer.

[Al Dente]

I have paid for cremini and took home porcini.

[Heather]

We have small children. I grab a handful of paper napkins at every opportunity. They get put in the glove compartment and definitely get used.

As for condiments, I used to get extra and never use them, then feel bad about throwing them away. Now if I ask for mustard, catsup, sweet & low, etc., and they give me too much I hand the extra back.

[DanCole42]

Back in college I had all the ingredients for making my favorite pasta, but with less than $4 in my bank account I had no hope of having decent parmesan to go with it. You can't have pasta without reggiano, so I did what any desperate gourmand would do in times like those... I shoplifted $7 worth from Whole Foods.

I have since repaid WF in spades by doing most of my legitimate grocery shopping in their overpriced aisles.

But man, those bluefoot mushrooms they had last week would have fit PERFECTLY in my shorts pocket...

"Sir, you have fungus coming out of your pocket."

"Yeah, that's what I get for spending so much time in that red light district in Manilla."

[Al Dente]

I have paid for cremini and took home porcini.

I want to make clear that I wasn't really shoplifting. I just neglected to correct the cashier.

[JPW]

I'm also a plastic bag miser. I wash and reuse plastic Ziplock baggies--half, I think out of environmentalism, half out of profound cheapness.

This also happens in our household.

I also never water my lawn: it usually rains enough around here in the summer that it stays relatively green. I also refuse to fertilize it.

However, I have been known to throw away extra paper napkins. Have you ever really tried to jam them back into some of the styles of containers that places use?

Contents of desk drawer -- 5 ketchup packets, about a dozen napkins, and 4 plastic knives.

[Spiral Stairs]

When we're getting a doggie bag from a restaurant, I move the bread from the breadbasket onto our plates when the server's not looking. (I'm too embarrassed to be noticed doing it.)

[B.A.R.]

My sustinence in college consisted of white rice cooked with multiple packets of Taco Bell Hot Taco Sauce. It's called "spicy rice" and it is terrible.

[mktye]

When we're getting a doggie bag from a restaurant, I move the bread from the breadbasket onto our plates when the server's not looking. (I'm too embarrassed to be noticed doing it.)

We had a friend who would bring her own tupperware from home for leftovers. No restaurant was too fancy for her to pull a container out of her large purse and unabashedly scrape the remaining contents of her plate into it.

[Escoffier]

We had a friend who would bring her own tupperware from home for leftovers. No restaurant was too fancy for her to pull a container out of her large purse and unabashedly scrape the remaining contents of her plate into it.

I did happen to see a "lady of a certain age" not only take the rolls from her table but also the bread and rolls from the neighboring (just vacated) table. Wrapped them in a napkin she retrieved from her purse, put them in a ziploc bag and then into her purse...

On a flight from Taipei to Bangkok on Cathay Pacific Airways (which uses real silverware and dishes, even in the cattlecar section) lady beside me eats her lunch, wipes off the knife and fork and puts them in her purse. I offered her mine but she declined.

[Poivrot Farci]

Namesake and Alphonse Mucha-woman etched dinner plate from an eponymous restaurant. Offered to buy it, but the waiter suggested: "monsieur, what le garçon doesn't see, le garçon doesn't know". Nice pull.