In this infographic, I tell about the popular utensil disposable chopsticks and its environmental effects.
Disposable Chopstick Waste
Every year, 80 billion pairs of chopsticks are thrown away. Without you knowing, this has gigantic consequences on the environment.
The Problem
80 billion chopsticks are thrown away each year. 100 acres of mature forest must be cut down every day to keep up the demand. That’s equal to 100 American football fields!
Every year, each person in Japan uses around 200 chopsticks. Half of disposable chopsticks are consumed in China, 38.5% in Japan, 10.5% in Korea and 1% in America.
Over 20,000,000 trees are cut down each year. 45% of disposable chopsticks are made of cottonwood, birch, and spruce. The rest 55% is made with bamboo.
Mass forest destruction leads to disasters:
- Animals and plants become more endangered.
- Air pollution increases due to less pollution absorbing plants.
- Dry land can form deserts, while loose soil can cause landslides.
To add up, each 80 billion chopstick pairs are packed in plastic and paper.
Not to mention the amount of energy used.
The solution is simple:
- Use 100% biodegradable chopsticks
- Use bamboo chopsticks, as they’re much more durable and bamboo grows faster than other trees.
- BYOC or Bring Your Own Chopsticks: 4,000 reusable chopsticks = 1 tree saved
- Reuse chopsticks to create art pieces, e.g chopstick trees in Beijing made with 80,000 chopstick pairs
- If possible, ask not to get chopsticks
Genia
While we become aware of the threat, how can one easily tell which chopstick is made of what? I use a lot of (disposable) chopsticks without knowing whether they are wooden or bamboo ones.
Baby Spinach Saga
Hello, Genia, thanks for your comment! 🙂 Indeed, it’s not easy to know. Most of the time you can only know this when you buy chopsticks. Then, you can choose the one made out of bamboo, or even better, plastic or metal.