Longing for the days of Brown Bag Chinese
I'm certain the title of this blog post will conjure up memories that will cause some to smile from ear to ear and, others to drool uncontrollably but, this blog isn't really about Guyanese Chinese from days gone by but it's actually about food containers we used back then and today.
Last year I started taking photos of the Seawall and during the process I became overwhelmed by the amount of garbage Guyanese dump out there. I saw it all, dead dogs in bags by the dozens, hundreds of pens, thousands of plastic bottles, you name it I saw it.
The one thing I saw more than anything else out there were Styrofoam food containers so much in fact I bet if I squinted my eyes it would have looked as if the ground was covered with snow. Ever since I've noticed they weren't just a problem on the seawall but everywhere and when say everywhere I mean Styrofoam food containers are everywhere. Pick a street in Georgetown and any street and odds are you'll find at least one Styrofoam box somewhere along that street.
So whats my point and what does this have to do with the awesomeness of brown bag Chinese food? Well, first off I have two points.
My first point is, the littering of Styrofoam boxes are getting out of hand, and we have only ourselves to blame. Some may argue it's the City Counsel's fault for not cleaning up the our surroundings but would it be a simpler solution if we disposed of our garbage properly in the first place? That way we wouldn't need to depend on the City Counsel to clean up after us (we all know how thats going).
My second point and the reason for the title, since Styrofoam isn't biodegradable its not going anywhere we're gonna be stuck with it for a very long time not like back in the day when food came in brown paper bags and cardboard boxes. Yes you'd find does on the streets too but with the rain and time they'd degrade and become part of the of the surroundings.
I wish someone in authority would take notice of this obvious growing problem and try to find a solution, perhaps a higher tariff on Styrofoam boxes and encouraging the importation of cardboard boxes at a lower tariff. Sure you can argue that Styrofoam food containers are better food containers and yes I agree but they are difficult to get ride of while cardboard containers go away on their own and I think thats worth a little headache when using them.
The one thing I saw more than anything else out there were Styrofoam food containers so much in fact I bet if I squinted my eyes it would have looked as if the ground was covered with snow. Ever since I've noticed they weren't just a problem on the seawall but everywhere and when say everywhere I mean Styrofoam food containers are everywhere. Pick a street in Georgetown and any street and odds are you'll find at least one Styrofoam box somewhere along that street.
So whats my point and what does this have to do with the awesomeness of brown bag Chinese food? Well, first off I have two points.
My first point is, the littering of Styrofoam boxes are getting out of hand, and we have only ourselves to blame. Some may argue it's the City Counsel's fault for not cleaning up the our surroundings but would it be a simpler solution if we disposed of our garbage properly in the first place? That way we wouldn't need to depend on the City Counsel to clean up after us (we all know how thats going).
My second point and the reason for the title, since Styrofoam isn't biodegradable its not going anywhere we're gonna be stuck with it for a very long time not like back in the day when food came in brown paper bags and cardboard boxes. Yes you'd find does on the streets too but with the rain and time they'd degrade and become part of the of the surroundings.
I wish someone in authority would take notice of this obvious growing problem and try to find a solution, perhaps a higher tariff on Styrofoam boxes and encouraging the importation of cardboard boxes at a lower tariff. Sure you can argue that Styrofoam food containers are better food containers and yes I agree but they are difficult to get ride of while cardboard containers go away on their own and I think thats worth a little headache when using them.
