We go to potlucks a good deal with friends and social groups, and we often volunteer to bring the dishes. Plastic forks are reusable, and it’s less of a loss if they get broken, taken home, or accidentally tossed (as opposed to metal silverware).

My council doesn’t recycle the kind of plastic the pots are made from either - do check if yours does, ‘cos lots of people seem to think that any solid plastic packaging can be recycled, but in fact we can only recycle 2 kinds here which are not even the most common.

The pots are easier to reuse though. I’ve used a couple of plastic forks as small props for plants that needed support.

Ideally, although it does take more time and organisation, you could make your own pasta salads and take them to work etc in a reusable container with the plastic forks you already have. It’s really easy to make and it’d save loads of money, the ones they sell in shops are really expensive!

I also found this option http://www.flickr.com/photos/rakka/375888428/

I continue to love the creativity of recycle this readers. Great stuff!

I’m sure we’d all agree that plastic in its many forms is a pain from a recycling point of view. My guess is that we need to tackle it from the supply end first - by persuading manufacturers and retailers to dramatically cut initial use.

What do you think?

Recycling cutlery is really great and I agree if you’re going to a potluck, reusing the cutlery there would be resourceful. My only concern would be regarding sanitation. I think some people might be hesitant to use utensils that had been previously used but not properly sanitized. Besides washing in hot, soapy water, some sort of sterilization process should be used. I’d probably steam them for three minutes in the microwave like I do my son’s baby bottles. Boiling is definitely out of the question because it would just melt/warp the cutlery.

Why should plastic cutlery not be as clean as metal cutlery? I just assumed you’d wash up in the normal way with hot water and detergent. Do you normally sterilise all your cutlery?

This whole steaming cutlery is just another example of health and safety gone too far. What do you think they do with cutlery in restaurants? They just use hot soapy water and its not a problem.

Hi Teresa, I’m not sure if your aware of this, but heating plastic releases chemicals into the environment and your food that are not only toxic, but mimic hormones -mostly estrogens. This can disrupt your body’s natural hormones and cause problems. They are also permanent residents in your body. I would strongly advise against ANY heating of plastic -especially for babies (i.e. plastic baby bottles)

I always keep and reuse things like plastic cutlery and plastic straws. I wash them after being used and keep them in my cutlery drawer with all my “real” silverware.

^ Also, I just wash them normally with dish-soap and water!

I try to persuade my office (several hundred people) to switch from using plastic plates and cutlery to using regular stonware plates and metal cutlery.

Does anybody know how to calculate a business case for this and quantify the environmental impact?

verysoon@writeme.com

use bamboo utensils instead

They would be useful for marking rows in a garden. I use them for stirring my henna hair dye, then toss them when finished. Scraping pet food out of the tins.