While some businesses stick with reusables during the pandemic, state guidelines and reliance on to-go food means many depend on disposable products
With restaurants relying on takeout services to stay afloat during the coronavirus pandemic, to-go containers and plastic utensils are piling up in landfills. That includes most of the so-called eco-friendly products many Portland restauranteurs use in place of more traditional disposable items.
Vinh Wong, the owner of Pho Van and Pho Van Fresh, said he relies on bamboo and paper products, although it is hard to find options that do not contain plastic or other chemicals.
“Everything is so new right now,” Wong said. “I’m just going off of what works and what doesn’t work.”
Wong said he plans to reincorporate reusable serviceware once Multnomah County enters Phase 1 of the state’s reopening plan. While the Oregon Health Authority does not require restaurants to continue using disposable serviceware for dine-in services, it does require employees to wear gloves, which must be thrown away after use.
Health officials also require restaurants use single-service condiments and menus or employ stringent cleaning methods between each customer. Wong said at Pho Van Fresh, he already has a chalkboard menu that eliminates the need for contact.
Products like takeout containers, gloves and disinfectant wipes are in the highest demand right now, said Tony Nicola, president of Merchants Paper Co. His company is a wholesaler that supplies the local food service industry. He said while some business owners seek out eco-friendly products, others are just doing what they can to stay open.
“Right now, there’s such a high demand that a lot of people are just taking what they can get,” Nicola said. “It’s a constant battle of keeping inventory at the levels we want, primarily because a lot of the product comes from China.”
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Although many restaurateurs strive to be eco-friendly, labels on the products they buy can be misleading. For example, most products labeled “recyclable” still have plastic linings or other chemicals that make them resilient, so they cannot be recycled in the Portland metro area.
Round plastic containers, used for foods like soups and curries, are the only plastic products that can be recycled in Portland. Aluminum foil, if rinsed off, is also recyclable.
While many states have suspended their plastic bag bans during the pandemic, Oregon has not. Still, many takeout containers are made of single-use plastic, which can not be recycled in Portland because there is no market for these low-quality plastics.
Compostable products are even less likely to end up where their labels suggest. A group of Oregon compost companies released a statement urging people to stop composting packaging and serviceware. No brand of compostable product is allowed in Oregon’s composting system as all brands contain “forever chemicals” like PFAS that contaminate final products.
“In Oregon, compostable serviceware ends up in the landfill with plastic serviceware,” Kimberlee Ables, Oregon Metro public information officer, told Street Roots. “That means many businesses may be paying more for compostable serviceware because of a perception that it is better for the environment.”
Tin Shed Garden Cafe is a Portland restaurant that relies on compostable packaging and utensils.
“It’s costly to purchase compostable products, but we feel it is important to continue to do so,” owner Christie Griffin said in an email.
But according to analyses from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, compostable food service products have a higher overall environmental impact than disposables like plastic due to the chemical process needed to create these products. Like plastic, compostable products do not break down in landfills.
Even using biobased products, made from corn, sugarcane, algae or food waste, does not guarantee a lower environmental impact. It takes more fossil fuel to manufacture some of these products than it does to create more traditional plastics — and many are not compostable or marine degradable, meaning they can still pollute the oceans.
Many restaurant owners Street Roots spoke with for this story said they plan to stick to takeout services and rely on these kinds of products even when Multnomah County enters Phase 1.
Zach Fund, the general manager of Ate-Oh-Ate, said that pickup and delivery are working.
“Rather than fix something that isn’t broken, and in the interest of protecting our employees and our customers, we will likely adopt a wait-and-see approach to reopening for dine-in business,” Fund said in an email.
In addition to using plastic and paper containers, Ate-Oh-Ate is a vendor for GO Box PDX, a zero-waste take-out system that offers reusable containers and cups across the city. GO Box is working to adapt its services to the current environment and counter public misconceptions of disposable products being safer than reusables.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released guidelines encouraging single-use disposables over reusable foodware, although research shows that surface transmission is not the primary way the virus spreads. GO Box owner and CEO Jocelyn Gaudi Quarrell said the plastic industry is attempting to convince consumers that single-use plastics are safer than reusable options, with little evidence to prove it.
Gaudi Quarrell said GO Box employs a stringent sanitation system that the Oregon Department of Agriculture and Multnomah Health Authority have approved, whereas most plastics do not go through a commercial sanitation process.
She said she’s confident GO Box is safe — not only from disease transmission but also because of “all of the other positive implications that go with avoiding selling single-use plastic.”
While GO Box is the city’s most widespread zero-waste system, it is not the only reusable solution in Portland. Restaurants like Tiny Moreso and Tin Shed Garden Cafe use mason jars for to-go beverages.
Tiny Moreso owner Jennifer Pereau has employed a mason jar deposit system since she opened her shop 2 1/2 years ago. She pushes back on those who have deemed resusables dangerous.
“There’s zero evidence that there’s any actual danger with (resusables),” Pereau said. “I mean, at this point, if we're making your food there, there's handling that’s going into it anyway. I think if there is risk in food service, it’s not from a sanitized jar.”
Although Pereau uses mason jars for smoothies, she has found it more difficult to instate reusable systems for larger meals and is still trying to find solutions to minimize waste. Tiny Moreso is a GO Box vendor.
Pereau said now would be a good time to introduce a citywide reusable system because during the pandemic, individuals have had to act much more intentionally when ordering food for takeout.
Most environmental organizations promote reusables over disposables, but they still aim to help restaurants pick the best disposable products. The Surfrider Foundation, a nonprofit that works to protect oceans and beaches, has created a resource guide that highlights ocean-friendly reusable and disposable products. Micheal Oshman, the founder and CEO of the Green Restaurant Association, wrote a blog post recommending suggests specific green takeout companies like Wow Plastics and Active Difference.
Elaine Blatt, senior policy and program analyst for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, recommended choosing thinner materials, which use less original raw material. She also suggested using products made from recycled materials, even though they typically cannot be recycled after use.
“Having recycled content means less virgin materials were used to produce it,” Blatt said.
With takeout products necessary for business survival during the pandemic, Blatt suggested focusing on eliminating food waste instead.
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“Food serviceware is a relatively small contributor to climate change across the board,” Blatt said. “Food and beverages represent 13% of our total (greenhouse gas) emissions, and so we’d like people to pay more attention to whether or not they’re eating the food that came in the package instead of worrying about what the package is made out of right now.”
Likewise, Oshman emphasized other measures restaurants can take to mitigate their impact on the environment. He suggested having a QR code that sends menus to consumers’ phones, recycling gloves through Terracycle, and adding more vegan and vegetarian options to menus.
“Even though you are taking an environmental hit by having more disposables,” he said, “you can mitigate that by making changes elsewhere.”
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