To pay for hygiene while eating out in a restaurant is like
paying an additional security fee to a bank when depositing money
in it.
Regrettably in restaurants in China this happens every day as
they insist on providing one-use and fee-paid tableware to
customers as long as they do not object to it.
By charging for tableware that is supposed to be provided for
free, restaurants are actually forcing patrons into unfair
deals.
Worse, in a populated country where eating out has become almost
a daily habit for many, the amount of disposable chopsticks is
colossal, posing an increasing threat to our environment.
Thanks to continuous initiatives taken by industry regulators
and NGOs to protect the interests of consumers, we may see a change
in this undesirable practice.
With a regulation on standardizing the service of the catering
industry taking effect this December, disposable cutlery is
expected to disappear from the market before year's end.
The All-China Association of Consumers on Friday urged all
restaurants to stop providing one-use tableware. It pointed out
that such a practice violates the law.
The country's laws on food hygiene and protection of consumers'
rights and interests stipulate that all restaurants are obliged to
provide sanitized cutlery and bear relevant sanitation costs. The
laws ban restaurants from transferring costs to customers.
Hence, the practice is not only breaking the law but also puts
into question the credibility of the catering industry.
In addition to the illegal money making in the name of hygiene,
the rampant use of disposable cutlery has also caused concerns
about environmental protection.
While a pair of one-use chopsticks may be popular with
restaurants and consumers, the country produces and discards more
than 45 billion pairs of wooden chopsticks every year.
This means a cost to the environment of about 25 million mature
trees.
The government in April imposed a 5 percent tax on chopstick
makers over concerns of deforestation.
Former premier Zhu Rongji once said that in a populous country
like China, any matter could be big when multiplied by the size of
the population and anything could be trivial when divided by the
population.
The use of disposable chopsticks could serve as a case in
point.
If everyone plays his or her part in environment protection, the
effort will finally pay off.
(China Daily September 3, 2007)