My name is Judy, and I’m a disposables addict. Once, news of the government’s imminent ban on single-use plastics would have thrown me into sheer panic, but fortunately, I’ve been (mostly) disposables-free for almost a year now.
When I was a child, disposable plates, cutlery and the like were unheard of. School dinners were served on reusable trays with real cutlery, and if you wanted a quick drink of water at home you took a proper glass (and then got shouted at by your mother for leaving it in the sink without washing it up).
But over the last couple of decades, our community’s reliance on disposable tableware at home, shul and fast-food places has rapidly increased. For me, the prospect of hosting multiple guests on Shabbat and dealing with the washing up was daunting. I always felt a bit guilty filling binbags with heavy-duty plastic dishes at the end of such a meal, but I couldn’t see any other way.
Recently though, I decided to make changes. Admittedly, this coincided with the long overdue purchase of a dishwasher. But learning that something as seemingly inconsequential as a plastic fork takes over 200 years to decompose and that Brits send over 4bn pieces of single-use cutlery to landfill annually played a part too. In my kitchen today you’ll find only a small ‘emergency’ stock of disposable bamboo cutlery and compostable paper plates and cups.
