Please dispose of disposable cutlery

RESTAURANTS and food delivery businesses will be banned from providing customers with four disposable tableware items unless requested from July 1, the city’s food watchdog said.

The items are chopsticks, spoon, fork and knife, the Shanghai Administration for Market Regulation said yesterday.

Catering service providers will first be asked to rectify the practice or face a fine of between 500 yuan (US$72) and 5,000 yuan if they continue to provide such items.

The move is in line with Shanghai’s first domestic garbage-management regulations, which take effect on July 1.

Catering service providers should put up a notice at their venues to inform diners and guide them to reduce the use of disposable tableware, the administration said, calling on people to tip off authorities by calling 12315 or 12331 hotlines if they spot irregularities.

Fast food giants KFC and McDonald’s said they will post notices at prominent spots, such as the ordering area, to inform guests of the new practice. Their staff are also being trained on the issue, they added.

Online food delivery platform ele.me said it will use pop-up reminders to ask consumers if they need disposable tableware from July 1.

Opinions of consumers were divided. “I don’t want to wash tableware when ordering food online, and I will still request it,” said Chen Gang, a resident.

However, another resident Mao Jianmin was more accommodating, saying: “It is quite understandable because it helps cut garbage production.”