I was sitting at lunch today, and once again I got frustrated by the amount of waste that most places generate. I am referring specifically to restaurants and businesses. Probably the two types of places that could make the biggest difference if they were environmentally responsible.

First of all, businesses blow my mind. Most places generate huge amounts of paper waste, both in the form of paper, and cardboard packaging. And unless I'm misinformed, I'm guessing it all goes to the landfill. My work is currently moving offices, and pretty much all new stuff is being bought, so all the old is getting tossed (most in the form of paper and brochures, along with smaller amounts of e-waste). And I have to say, I don't really blame the businesses. It seems to be so much of a hassle to properly dispose of it that it just gets tossed. It is cheaper and easier to get one dumpster than different services for different types of waste.

My second peeve is restaurants. The place I ate at today served me my food wrapped in paper and then placed in a thin white cardboard holder. My salad came in a styromfoam container, and I was given a plastic fork and knife. It drives me batty!!! Three types of excessive waste!

So this is part of what I think concerned business owners should implement. In my cafe/coffee shop that I want to open, I would serve everything on plates that would be reused to eliminate waste. I would provide recycle bins for patron's newspapers and soda/juice bottles... (Although I don't know if the soda would be sold at my establishment :) ) And to take it further, I would even consider a food waste bin where and food leftovers could be dumped for later composting. Another consideration, I've seen plastic containers that claim to be biodegradable.