Do you feel guilty when using wooden chopsticks in an Asian restaurant? You should.
The use of disposable chopsticks across the United States, in Japan and other parts of Asia has raised questions of sustainability. Vast tracts of forest are clear-cut to produce these utensils, and many environmentalists see such needless waste as another example of human consumerism's disregard for forest integrity.
Most disposable chopsticks are used in Japan. According to Japanese tradition, it is unsanitary to use a pair of chopsticks that have previously been used no matter how thoroughly they are cleaned. In the past decade, the threat of spreading disease has led many Chinese and Japanese restaurants in the United States to use disposable chopsticks.
"They are used once and then thrown away," said Joe Chen, the manager at Panda House, one of the local Chinese restaurants in Hanover, NH. "The customer has the option of taking them home if they like."
But where do these chopsticks come from? Which trees are cut down and diced up into tiny strips so that you and I may have the comfort of using virgin utensils to consume our favorite Chinese noodle dish?
The majority of disposable chopsticks come from trees harvested in the Pacific Northwest, British Columbia and Northern Minnesota by Canadian Chopstick Manufacturing Company (CCMC). CCMC, a firm created by a Japanese chemical company and Mitsubishi Corporation, clear-cuts old growth forests to reach their daily production goal of 8 million pairs of chopsticks, according to the Boycott Mitsubishi Campaign run by the Rainforest Action Network (RAN).
Total world production of disposable chopsticks tops 20 billion pairs per year. The production process is immensely wasteful. CCMC uses only the finest-grain aspen for its high-tech chopstick mill. This means that more than three-quarters of the tree is left in the field to rot or burn.
For years, Mitsubishi International, an entirely Japanese owned U.S. subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corporation, has been exporting large quantities of raw timber from the United States and Canada. Rainforest Action Network says about tow-thirds of all raw logs harvested in the Northwest go to Japan for processing. Some of this wood ends up next to your plate in the form of disposable chopsticks with the ludicrous marketing motto: "chopsticks that protect nature."
These forestry practices are immeasurably damaging to the integrity of forests, as well as detrimental to American businesses. U.S. lumber, plywood and paper mills are feeling the crunch of a timber shortage caused primarily by Mitsubishi's appetite for wood.
Is this wasteful behavior sustainable? Can we continue to take raw materials out of the forest leaving behind only our trash and chemicals?
Most Dartmouth students questioned were uninformed on the issue, but exhibited concern when told that old-growth aspen forests were being clear-cut to mass produce wooden chopsticks. "I would eagerly support a change from disposable to reusable chopsticks even if a small price increase were incurred," said one student, Jennifer Bonin. The issue of sanitation did not seem to be a problem for any of the respondents.
Clear-cutting old-growth forests for disposable chopsticks is a non-sustainable practice. The next time you eat at an Asian restaurant, use your judgment. Would you like to see trees in the forest harboring diversity and natural beauty, or reduced to slivers with which you shovel food into your mouth? Do not support wasteful corporations, use a fork or bring a pair of reusable chopsticks from home.
