As I was eating lunch today, once again I couldn’t stop thinking about the huge amount of trash this country (U.S.) produces. Not to say that every other country is better, but it absolutely amazes me how every single paper or plastic plate, bowl or utensil here is so solid and sturdy that you could put it through the dish washer and no harm would be done to them. How can these things be called single use kitchenware?

An add to this that the concept of recycling here is a joke. Growing up in Scandinavia, I am used to separating recycle material very carefully and deposit them in separate stations. you have to separate brown paper from white, colored glass from clear, different types of plastic and a lot of people also have compost. Here in the States, we you toss everything that is supposed to be recycled in one giant bin, and there is no proof that all of this gets recycled (even if they wanted to, they would have to separate things first), and when talking to people about recycle, you can tell that overwhelming majority have no clue about what can or can’t be recycled. people think for instance a pizza box can be recycled, even if it has left over pizza or cheese stuck to it, or that styrofoam can be recycled and so on…

And while i am on the topic, the amount of *absolute* unnecessary wrapping and packing pretty much anything you buy comes with really is tragic to see. All (mostly) because of marketability of the products

It breaks my heart to see this much waste on a daily basis everywhere I look….