July is a wonderful month. So much time spent outdoors, eating watermelon, playing frisbee in the late afternoon sun. Each day holds a new opportunity for cultivating joy. And it also happens to go by Plastic Free July, making it a month where people commit to cutting down, or altogether eliminating, their day-to-day plastic consumption.<\/p>\n
And living in a country that uses and tosses 1,500<\/a> water bottles per second, we can use all the help and awareness we can get. It feels more imperative when we consider that 91%<\/a> of plastic used in the U.S. ends up getting tossed in the landfill. Yikes.<\/p>\n Thankfully, Plastic Free July inspires people to get fired up and make a more permanent lifestyle change, veering away from plastics and single-use items. The results in our personal lives are empowering \u2013 that is, until we go out to eat. Then, it feels like we’re plugging a nickel-sized hole in a capsizing boat.<\/p>\n While we may compost at home, most restaurants landfill anything leftover \u2013 from the lemon on your water to the leftover salsa in the serving dish. It’s easy to feel like eating in a restaurant undoes the lions’ share of the work we do to mitigate our own wastefulness at home.<\/p>\n