The other day I was killing time while my children practiced some stuff. I had my laptop and went down to the nearest Whole Foods to do some writing and drink some of their over-priced coffee.
That's when I noticed the trash bins in the store's cafe. This is the store on Rt. 123 in Vienna, adjacent to the W&OD trail. The bins were marked for recyclable, trash and compost -- and they were nearly full.
Seems as if the Whole Food shopper walks the talk when it comes to taking care of the environment. But it got me to thinking if the same kind of garbage system would work in the major fast food restaurants? Would the typical McDonald's shopper toss his uneaten french fries in to the compost bin, the paper wrapper in the Big Mac into the recycle slot and the plastic straw from the 300 calorie Coke into the garbage bin?
Yeah, probably not.
I don't want to pick on McDonald's (I think the same for Burger King and Wendy's for that matter) on suggest that the average customer doesn't care more about the environment than their waistline, I just don't think that habit can be changed. We eat fast food because a lot of us live fast lives and taking even a few seconds to sort our garbage isn't fast.
The Whole Foods vibe almost guilts a customer into sorting the compostable cups from the plastic lids and the uneaten food.
But I don't want to feel guilty if I toss my mixed trash into a single garbage bag. I do want to feel good about taking care of the environment. Maybe the geniuses on Madison Ave. can come up with a campaign that gives us the warm and fuzzies when we do good.
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