New tune for chopsticks

Japanese authorities crack down on waste The prospect of having to carry an ID card may be getting backs up in Britain, but people in Japan are expected to go one step further… Municipal employees in Matsue are being asked “to carry their own chopsticks at all times”. Concerned that the large number of disposable chopsticks used in Japan is contributing to deforestation in China, the city’s ‘Let’s Carry Our Own Chopsticks’ campaign has asked catering companies not to provide them with lunch boxes, and is educating food shoppers to say no at the checkout. In Koudera, meanwhile, they’re dealing with waste at the other end. Loo paper in the town hall’s toilets is now produced from the office’s discarded confidential documents. Cheaper than incineration, the recycling process developed by paper manufacturers Nishinihon Eizai not only removes the staples, but dissolves the secret documents whilst still packed in cardboard boxes. So there’s no need to worry if anyone’s caught reading on the loo. - Hannah Bullock

27 January 2005

Hannah Bullock