Plastic cutlery by request only, please

Thank you, Melissa Valliant, for bringing up the issue of unwanted and unneeded plastic cutlery that comes with carryout orders (“Limiting single-use plastic not good enough; it’s time phase it out,” July 5). How many of us have opened a kitchen drawer only to see it stuffed and overflowing with cellophane wrapped packs of cheap plastic cutlery and flimsy napkins?

These are hard to recycle because you can’t just toss them. First, you have to extract everything from the cellophane which (to my knowledge) isn’t recyclable. Ms. Valliant’s box checking idea is good for online orders. I would add that if ordering in person, the employee taking the order should simply ask if the customer wants plastic cutlery.

It’s a win-win-win! Companies save money, it helps protect our environment and we consumers get additional kitchen drawer space.