Monday, August 4, 2008

Day 105 of our Green Year: Dealing with Napkins

Layla and I went out for dinner for the first time in a long time recently, and one thing we noticed was that when your food comes, you get a lot of napkins. Usually this is more napkins than you will actually use and the ones you don't use are often thrown away with whatever is left on your plate.

It is a needless waste and it is unfortunate considering how many trees are often cut down to make things like napkins. As a result, Layla and I have decided there will be a couple things we will do to keep from wasting napkins.

First, we will be trying to bring our own reusable napkin from home. This can be something like a small, thin cloth, like a handkerchief, and it is something we can take with us wherever we go so that we can also help eliminate Kleenex from our lives. Then, when we are at the restaurant, we can use our own napkin, and not any the restaurant provides, which helps to reduce waste.

The second thing we do will be if we forget our handkerchief at home. This is to take all the napkins we are given and bring them home to reuse them or recycle them. This will keep us from having too much waste and it will help eliminate waste by recycling the napkins.

Going green can be something small, just like buying a handkerchief, and that is one of the main messages we are trying to teach with Our Green Year.