Reusable Chopsticks

It might be a good thing...or not, but yeah, my silly face came out in the papers.

It was Wednesday's Star 2, Youth 2 section. Here's the online article, of course without my face. Since it might be wasting its bandwidth :P

http://thestar.com.my/youth2/story.asp?file=/2008/4/23/youth2/21017660&sec=youth2

In fact, alot of people doubted my statements in the article. lol.
Let me ask you a simple question, how often do you see me using disposable chopsticks or eating noodles at hawker stalls?
Cause chances are, you will always see me online or at the mamak stall :)

Haha, I'm sure you will have a chance to see me using it sooner or later.
But of course, I did use it from now and then

And let me reason it out to you why its such a bad idea to use disposable chopsticks.

1.) Ever noticed how white all the wooden chopsticks you saw at Sushi King or those nicely packed plastic packed ones in Ming Tien or any hawker stalls?

Yeah, those are bleached completely to make it real nice and presentable. Unlike the solid,heavier ones you have at home, as those actually looks more natural (by looking at its 'veins' as well, or whatever you call that :P).
Actually plastic chopsticks are bad as well, I tried cooking maggie with it, at one point it got so soft and actually bends almost 50 degrees. So immediately I straightened it back again before rinsing it with tap water (Imagine a blacksmith forging a sword)

2.) Not all chopsticks are made from bamboo trees. As expected, in order to meet its demand for its mass production (now I'm speaking like a true economist, woohoo), companies will need to rely back on wood.

So this is the environmental part of it, the more disposable chopsticks they made, the more trees being cut down. Simple sense rite? Same goes for Rhino Horns and Elephant Tusks.

3.) Some disposable ones are really quite disgusting. Its very easy to tell how low the quality of some chopsticks, having some with fine strips falling off from it. While tryin so hard to peel off the excess, at one point, you will realise its just gonna go on and on forever.

Here's a 2 of the many blogs i found regarding bout the bleaching process. I'm not sure where the images orginally taken, but probably the rest of the bloggers just copied it (in exact orders and description as well!). Oh well, as long you all understands it :)

http://www.xiaoyenzi.com/2007/11/chopstick-alert/

http://rojaks.blogspot.com/2007/09/disposable-chopsticks-you-may-wanna.html

One of the biggest users and contributers (no prize for guessing) will be China, followed by our other 2 famed east asia countries.

"In China alone, an estimated 45 billion pairs of disposable chopsticks are used and thrown away annually. This adds up to 1.7 million cubic metres of timber or 25 million fully grown trees every year. To encourage that people use and throw away less, in April 2006 a 5% tax was added to the price of chopsticks in China. This measure is part of the first tax package in 12 years." Wikipedia

"A 2006 Hong Kong Department of Health survey has found that the proportion of people using serving chopsticks, spoons or other serving utensils has increased from 46% to 65% since the SARS outbreak in 2003." Hong Kong Department of Health survey

They are aware of the situation, since they used far more than any other countries in the world. But of course I'm not pointing fingers to them, since they have a mass population. But it could pose a threat if it continues on.

Some facts and figures
http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-5152661/Chopsticks-LIFE-CYCLE-STUDIES.html

Plead by China Environmentalist
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19203227

Beijing Hotels rejected the usage of disposable chopsticks
http://www.chinacsr.com/2007/10/12/1748-300-beijing-hotels-reject-disposable-chopsticks/

Just to named a few websites, as there are tons of websites regarding the outcome.

And another 2 videos I found





So one of the most common solutions will be bringing our own pair of chopsticks, hence, there came this idea of bringing the reusable chopsticks to Malaysia.
Ok, maybe its out in the market before this. But doesn't matter


They are selling this during The Star Enviromental Fest in Bukit Kiara on June 8.
It cost rm18 or rm20. Not too sure bout the pricing as I was quoted for RM18, so you people can get it from me if wanted to.

Alot might be saying its expensive and stuffs, but we are not forcing you to buy! Its just a solution for not using disposable chopsticks. As long you say no to disposable chopsticks, we're happy to hear it and thank you for making an effort to help the environment :)

Thanks for reading my post, so as a reward (no,i'm not giving away free reusable chop since i don't technically make them), here's a video that we, from Star Youth made and acted in. Yeah, its very very silly. But heck, it was fun doin it :)