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Food fight!by Michelle Cinelli
July 8 2007
| | | What's on the oustide of our takeout is as important as the food inside: Traditional packaging is bad for our bodies and the environment. Toronto-based Naturopack is creating options. (Find them online at www.naturopack.org) Sometimes it feels like we don't even have enough time to eat, so drive-through and take-out food have flourished and are now the norm. But what are the consequences of those take-out packages so necessary for a life on the run? Naturopack knows. It's a Toronto-based non-profit organization that advocates and educates for the use of environmentally responsible packaging. Since December 2005, it's been striving to raise public awareness and encourage companies to change their packaging methods to sustainable solutions. It's new Get It To Go Green campaign urges Toronto’s restaurants to use eco-friendly alternatives to plastic and Styrofoam take out containers, like using ones made of corn, potatoes or sugar cane. These non-toxic products are completely biodegradable, can be recycled, and use less energy to produce than Styrofoam. In terms of the environment, Styrofoam was found to be the second highest substance, just behind aluminum, to impact the Earth in terms of green house gases and energy consumption.But Styrofoam is not just bad for the ecosystem, it’s also bad for people. Expanded polystyrene (EPS), or Styrofoam, is made from crude oil, as well as benzene and styrene which are both toxic to humans and nature. These substances have been documented to rub off on the food and drink we put in the containers and can cause serious neurological problems and certain cancers over time. Yet large and small companies continue to use this harmful material, which is designed to be used for an hour or less, but takes thousands of years to decompose in a landfill. Since 1990, 14 cities in the U.S have banned Styrofoam completely, including San Francisco, and Naturopack wants to make Toronto the first city in Canada, hoping that others will follow the lead. Their website provides information on Styrofoam and different ways to get involved like signing petitions, lobbying the government, and in the cases of those who have restaurants, changing suppliers. There are currently three main suppliers of completely biodegradable products in Toronto. Green Shift is the first; they sell non toxic cups, take-out containers and paper products as well as cleaning products, fuels and coffee. Bhumi Products is another; they specialize specifically in bagasse take out containers and dishware. Bagasse is made from sugar cane fibre, a natural by-product of the sugar refining industry, and is 100 per cent biodegradable. And last there is Grass roots, the spin-off of the well knows Roots Canada clothing brand. They now have two stores in Toronto, both powered by renewable energy, and both with a slew of eco-friendly products to choose from. Naturopack is trying hard to get more and more companies in Toronto to use biodegradable packaging, and will be coming out soon with a list of those restaurants that complied for customers who are container cautious. But right now it’s important for consumers to ask before taking a container what’s it’s made of, and letting restaurants know there is a better way. By the time a container ends up in a landfill where it stays for centuries, it is delivered three times in air polluting transportation, manufactured up to twice in factories using high amounts of energy and chemicals, and before all this comes from natural resources like oil and trees. | | |
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