page_title: Take-out
section_title: Disposable serviceware waste
hierarchical_section_title: Take-out / Disposable serviceware waste
caption_attribution_description: English: Disposable chopsticks in the cafeteria of Waseda University, Japan Deutsch: Wegwerf-Esstäbchen in der Mensa der Waseda-Universität, Japan
context_page_description: A take-out or takeout; carry-out or to-go; take-away; takeaways; grab-n-go; and parcel is a prepared meal or other food items, purchased at a restaurant or fast food outlet that the purchaser intends to eat elsewhere. A concept found in many ancient cultures, take-out food is common worldwide, with a number of different cuisines and dishes on offer.
context_section_description: Packaging of fast food and take-out food is necessary for the customer but involves a significant amount of material that ends up in landfills, recycling, composting, or litter.  Foam containers for fast-food were the target of environmentalists in the U.S. and were largely replaced with paper wrappers among large restaurant chains.
  In 2002, Taiwan began taking action to reduce the use of disposable tableware at institutions and businesses, and to reduce the use of plastic bags. Yearly, the nation of 17.7 million people was producing 59,000 tons of disposable tableware waste and 105,000 tons of waste plastic bags, and increasing measures have been taken in the years since then to reduce the amount of waste. In 2013 Taiwan's Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) banned outright the use of disposable tableware in the nation's 968 schools, government agencies, and hospitals.  The ban is expected to eliminate 2,600 metric tons of waste yearly.
  In Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, laws banning the use of disposable food and drink containers at large-scale events have been enacted. Such a ban has been in place in Munich, Germany since 1991, applying to all city facilities and events. This includes events of all sizes, including very large ones (Christmas market, Auer-Dult Faire, Oktoberfest and Munich City Marathon). For small events of a few hundred people, the city has arranged for a corporation to offer rental of crockery and dishwasher equipment. In part through this regulation, Munich reduced the waste generated by Oktoberfest, which attracts millions of people, from 11,000 metric tons in 1990 to 550 tons in 1999.
  China, by virtue of the size of its population and the surging popularity of food delivery apps, such as Meituan and Ele.me, faces  significant challenges disposing of or recycling takeout food packaging waste. According to a 2018 study published in Resources, Conservation and Recycling, for the first half of 2017, Chinese consumers ordered 4.6 billion takeout meals, generating “significant environmental concerns”. The study's authors estimated that packaging waste from food delivery grew from 20,000 metric tons in 2015 to 1.5 million metric tons in 2017. In its 2018 company report, Meituan reported making over 6.4 billion food deliveries in 2018, up from 4 billion a year earlier.
  Because takeout and delivery meals in China include single-use chopsticks, which are made from wood or bamboo, the growth in food delivery also has an impact on China's forests. China produces about 80 billion pairs of single-use chopsticks yearly, the equivalent of 20 million 20-year-old trees. About 45 percent are made from trees – mainly cottonwood, birch, and spruce, the remainder being made from bamboo. Japan uses about 24 billion pairs of these disposables per year, and globally about 80 billion pairs are thrown away by an estimated 1.4 billion people. Reusable chopsticks in restaurants have a lifespan of 130 meals. In Japan, with disposable ones costing about 2 cents and reusable ones costing typically $1.17, the reusables better the $2.60 breakeven cost. Campaigns in several countries to reduce this waste are beginning to have some effect.
caption: Disposable chopsticks in a university cafeteria trash bin in Japan.
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