Chopsticks are somehow representative of Asian culture, especially Chinese culture. They are actually a pair of small even-length tapered sticks, which originated in China, and are the traditional eating utensils of Chinese.

But these small sticks, mostly made from wood, are now presenting big problems to the environment. Many people are calling to abandon the use of wooden chopsticks. Our reporter Wang Lei has the details.

Reporter:  

  
Walk into any restaurant in Beijing, no matter whether it's a big hotel or a small street food stand, you'll easily find many people eating with disposable wooden chopsticks. No one knows exactly when these disposable wooden chopsticks were first invented, but these small pieces of wood have become deeply rooted in Chinese people's life.

In this case, numbers can help describe the situation. China today produces 80 billion pairs of disposable wooden chopsticks every year on average. About 30 billion pairs are for export and the other 50 billion for domestic consumption. You may ask how much timber we need to produce such a huge number of chopsticks. The answer is that a twenty-year old tree can only make 4000 pairs of them. Every year it takes about 10 million cubic metres of timber to produce these disposable chopsticks. It accounts for about 18% of the total timber consumed by the whole country per year. And what's worse is that the only way Chinese people deal with used chopsticks is to burn them. So, the question of whether or not to continue using disposable chopsticks has become a heated topic among common people.

"I use my own dishware in the cafeteria every day. And I also suggest my colleagues to do the same."

"I resolutely combat the use of disposable chopsticks personally. To abandon it is a must-trend I think."

"Some people don't realize that they are wasting timber resources. They think they only use one pair a day, but how many people are there and how many days that people are using them? Trees are not countless. Everyone lives on the same Earth. If the environment is destroyed, everyone is a casualty."

It's easy to see that almost all the people know that using disposable wooden chopsticks is bad to the environment, and are calling for an abandon on it. Actually, the use of disposable chopsticks has been debated for years. The government has limited the production and export of disposable wooden chopsticks since 2004, by taxation. And last year the government imposed another 5% consumption tax and 10% export tariff on it, in addition to the 17% value-added tax. Compared to other farming and forestry products, disposable wooden chopsticks receive the heaviest tax in China.

However the result of heavy taxation has not been too impressive so far. Obviously, there are reasons why it is so hard for some people to say goodbye to these disposable chopsticks.

"Many people have little trust in the sanitary condition of restaurants, especially some small street food stands. That's why they prefer to use disposable chopsticks."

"To completely abandon them is impossible. Because of its convenience, under some situations, people have to use it. But limitations are necessary."

And for businessmen, profit is always their priority. As long as the cost of using disposable chopsticks is less than using normal ones, many would choose the cheaper way.
In the run-up to the Olympics, the government again calls on restaurant operators to phase out one-use cutlery, especially wooden chopsticks.

To help restaurants become more environmentally friendly and energy efficient, the Ministry of Commerce recently issued a range of provisions relating to the catering industry, to discourage the use of wooden chopsticks.

Well, the good thing is that, although people see disposable chopsticks from different perspectives, all of them follow the call and express their ideas and wishes.

"First the public health bureau should ensure the hygienic conditions of all restaurants and food stalls. On that basis, the government can abandon the production and use of disposable chopsticks."

"If China can find a way to recycle and reuse these chopsticks then I think we won't have to abandon them altogether. If not, then vise versa."

"It's meaningless to abandon one-use chopsticks depending only on people's morals and concerns about the environment. It still needs laws and regulations and a strict law enforcement agency. I hope from today, from the next meal, everyone stops using disposable chopsticks."

For Beyond Beijing, this is Wang Lei.