Chinese environmental activists continue to protest the country's use of disposable chopsticks, an industry that churns out about 63 billion pairs a year, according to The Wall Street Journal. Just yesterday, activists stormed a Microsoft Corporation cafeteria to alert patrons to the damage the utensils were doing to forests.China is already mobilizing to decrease its reliance on disposable chopsticks. Since November, about 300 restaurants have promised to replace them with reusable chopsticks, and in 2006, the government levied a 5% tax on these and other products they deemed environmentally unfriendly.
And to go along with their attempts to green the Beijing Olympics this summer, many events will not offer disposable chopsticks to visitors.
But the industry that activists are protesting is one that employs over 100,000 people in China, and provides well-needed jobs for people in poorer areas (some younger activists are experiencing conflicting feelings, as their parents make a living producing the very product that they are condemning). And Lian Guang, president of the Wooden Chopsticks Trade Association, told the WSJ that the company uses leftover wood or wood from trees that are not endangered, like birch, poplar, and bamboo.
But though activists are encouraging Chinese citizens to tote their own pair of reusable chopsticks (much like the U.S. is encouraging people to use their own water bottles), it doesn't look like the disposable chopstick industry is going anywhere anytime soon.
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