How Is Fast Food Industry Contributing To Climate Change And What Can We Do About It
In the fast food industry, everything is centered around the speed of delivery and around comfort.
You order some French fries and a burger, and you get them wrapped in a paper box each, with a couple of paper towels on the side.
The intention is pure – all the grease or sauces get absorbed by the paper, and you can enjoy your meal.
But at what cost?
According to The Paperless Project, every year we throw away 13 billion pounds of paper towels in the U.S. alone. Globally, the numbers rise to 254 million tons.
Every day 51,000 trees are cut down to produce new paper towels. This rhythm simply isn’t sustainable. So what can we do about it?
Understanding Paper Waste
When paper gets recycled, the fiber in the paper – which is extracted from trees – gets shorter than in the previous cycle.
Paper towels are the last step of recycling, meaning that the fiber has reached its end potential.
However, most paper towel comes from virgin pulp and not from recycled paper.
Moreover, the grease and bodily fluids that contaminate paper towels can’t be removed and would contaminate the new paper product.
Taking recycling out of the equation, the other option is to turn them into compost.
But not all paper towels are eligible for compost – those which are greasy or used with chemical solutions will ruin it.
So what really happens next is that they go to waste. Here they decay and release methane gas, which one of the main causes of pollution and climate change.
Replace Paper with Sustainable Alternatives
Although paper waste is just one side of the issue, there are now many alternatives to paper products.
Our specialty is the Burger Holder, the accessory that allows you to enjoy a mess-free burger experience.
First things first, the Burger Holder is a reusable shell that can replace thousands of paper towels in its life cycle.
The average person uses 15 paper napkins with a burger and eats one burger a week. 15 paper towels x 52 weeks – that’s 780 paper towels a year that could be replaced.
Why is it a better alternative for you? It pools all the sauces and grips the burger tightly.
This means that all the ingredients are held together so you can enjoy your meal without worrying about staining your clothes.
Because of the tight grip, you can eat it quickly on the go, in the car or at a street food festival.
It’s also a great solution for people with fine motor skills problems like children or seniors.
Second, the plastic used to create the Burger Holder is BPA-free, which is resistant to high temperatures and is 100% recyclable.
You can throw it in the washing machine and it’s ready to be used again.
It is adjustable and suitable for all kinds of burgers – simple, double, veggie or even bunless burgers.
When it no longer serves its purpose, you can recycle it, so new Burger Holders can be created.
What Else Can We Do?
1. Refuse paper towels and straws at restaurants and bring your own metal straws or ask for a fiber cloth.
These can be washed and reused for an indefinite amount of time, reducing considerably the amount of paper waste.
2. Use a Burger Holder instead of paper napkins and encourage your friends to do the same. You can order them here:
https://www.theburgerholder.com/products/burger-holder
3. Recycle more paper and materials instead of throwing them away.
4. Choose mindfully the paper towels you absolutely need to use, and make sure they’re from a sustainable, recyclable source.