Don’t feel like pulling out the chopping knife and frying pan tonight? Urbanites are blessed with an overdose of options when it comes to prepared meals delivered right to your front door. It’s fabulous and all, except for the remnants left behind. That’s right – takeout containers.
Just a few short years ago, Toronto was poised to take bold direct action against in-store packaging, including mandating fully recyclable coffee cups and banning all non-recyclable takeout containers.
All talk stalled when the city decided to recycle instead of outlaw styrofoam (aka polystyrene) and when the province promised a massive overhaul of the Waste Diversion Act that would finally have made producers pay in full for their trash, including takeout container waste.
Alas, Councillor Gord Perks says he’s spent his entire adult life waiting for the province to stop dodging that responsibility. So the onus is on us and our favourite takeout restaurants to make better choices. Don’t be shy about telling them which packaging you’d like them to use or lose. Here’s a breakdown.
STYROFOAM, AKA POLYSTYRENE (PS#6): Clamshells and hard plastic lids
Just because this one’s now recyclable doesn’t mean we shouldn’t avoid it as much as we can. It’s still a toxic polymer made from a million-years-in-the-making non-renewable resource, and it leaches styrene (a likely carcinogen) into food and drinks.
Recycling it is such a pain in the arse that the province’s two styrene recyclers have shuttered. Right now we’re shipping it to Shanghai (yes, over 10,000 kilometres). If T.O. can’t secure a more local facility and the city ends up cancelling its stryo recycling down the line, maybe we can talk about banning this stuff from takeout again, just like San Fran has.
Where to ditch it: Recycling bin
ALUMINUM FOIL CONTAINERS: Trays, pans, rounds
Aluminum is the poster child for easily recycled materials. It can be endlessly recycled (locally), and doing so is cost- and energy-efficient, so even plain old aluminum containers often (not always) have recycled content. (Aluminum cans have about 68 per cent recycled content, too, but they have BPA linings.)
Where to ditch them: The blue bin. (Just don’t include those paper-lined foil lids – they’re garbage.)
COATED PAPER: Coffee cups, chicken buckets, soup bowls
The big problem: the city may be able to recycle paper cups, but they can’t recycle cups with the plastic lids on, so they just say no to the million cups a day coming from Tims and friends. Word is, Starbucks is trying develop a 100 per cent recyclable cup, but it could be a while. FYI, regular paper cups are coated with PET plastic, but green ones have higher recycled content and a plant-based coating.
Where to ditch it: The city doesn’t officially approve it, but you can put your individual cup in the blue bin (as long as you remove the plastic lid first). Some coffee joints will recycle your cups, too, since they contract private recycling companies that pay someone to pry off your plastic lid. KFC-style buckets, on the other hand, are quite welcome in the blue bin, since they have paper lids.
CARDBOARD BOXES: Pizza boxes
This one’s a no-brainer. Cardboard takeout boxes often have high recycled content and are easily recycled into new corrugated boxes.
Where to ditch them: Pop it in the blue bin when you’re done with your ‘za. Just don’t leave a slice behind.
CLEAR PLASTIC CLAMSHELLS: Takeout salad and sushi containers
These are a major headache because they’ve been made of all sorts of random plastics (including polystyrene and PET) and it’s impossible for the city to tell which is which. There’s talk that grocers etc have agreed to stick to PET plastic clams, opening the door for blue-binning later in the year. Fingers crossed.
Where to ditch them: For now, the garbage bin, though you could always stockpile ’em while waiting for recycling to start, hopefully later this year.
BIODEGRADABLE PLASTIC: Clear plastic cups and clamshells at enviro-aware joints
The big alternative to clear petroleum-based plastics. These are a PLA or polylactic acid often made of corn, tapioca or potato starch. The corn kind is mostly made by Cargill’s NatureWorks and faces some flak for not excluding GMO corn. Too bad T.O.’s green bin doesn’t accept bio-plastic all plastic just gets skimmed out (they can’t tell what’s bio and what’s not). Plus, it can’t be recycled, since it’s considered a contaminant by those making recycled plastic goods.
Where to ditch it: Unfortunately, in this town it goes in the trash, like regular plastic cups.
SUGARCANE CONTAINERS: papery-looking takeout containers of choice at eco-conscious joints
These are way greener to manufacture than that nonrenewable petroleum junk. It’s a shame some have a plastic film so they get separated out of city composters.
Where to ditch them: The city says you should (sigh) trash them, but even if you’re unsure if it’s genuine uncoated sugarcane (like, say, Greenshift’s), I say green-bin ’em and let the sorter decide.
REUSABLE CONTAINERS: Stainless steel tins, Mason jars
Though perfect for takeout, these are rarely used except by super-cool tiffinday.com (the company picks up the empties from your home/work the next day) or feelgoodguru.com, which delivers vegan jarred lunches by bike.
ODDBALLS: Polypropylene containers and lids (they say PP#5 on them) from joints like East Side Mario’s and Swiss Chalet
Where to ditch them: In the blue bin, but if there’s no number (or it’s #3, #6 or #7) on the lid or base, you’ll have to toss it.
ecoholic@nowtoronto.com
