Press release
Indie Food starts this year with the sustainability campaign Proyecto Plato / Plate Project, with which we aim to create environmental awareness and reduction of the consumption of Styrofoam and other disposable contaminants in the food industry.
Inspired by The Uniform Project (theuniformproject.com), as of January 2012 we'll put a plate to travel around the world throughout 12 countries returning to Mexico in 2013.
The main objective: to show how many plates and cups can be saved in the day to day, raising this way awareness to reduce polluting and unnecessary material consumption. But there's more, the traveler plate will give us knowledge about traditions, culture and recipes of each and one of the places it visits. It'll also contribute in building a report on the global food situation.
The strategy: we've found 12 volunteers who during a period of one month each will carry a plate, a spoon and a non-disposable cup, and will use them in local food stalls. In the blog, at the Indie Food site and in twitter (# plateproject), testimonies and pictures of the 12 ambassadors will be registered, as well as of those who wish to join this global performance.
Among the confirmed countries are Mexico, Canada, Fiji, India, Sweden, UAE, Israel, Colombia, Hong Kong, England, Japan and Chile.
Why Plate Project?
In recent years, many people spend much of their day away from home and must find a place to eat at noon. The large number of street/fast-food options, being economical, tasty and diverse, seem to be the best option. For their part, merchants, to reduce costs and facilitate the operation, use disposable dishes (mostly Styrofoam or Polystyrene) to serve and pack food. This has not only caused an overproduction of wastes that harm the ecosystem, but has also begun to impact on health and eating habits in a negative way. For example, beans and maize have been displaced by instant soups high in sodium and other preservatives of dubious reputation that come packed and are heated in styrofoam cups.
When heated, the styrofoam release substances called dioxins, which are highly toxic to human cells; these have been linked to skin cancer, cataracts, and immune system and hormonal changes. The hot temperature of the food makes the Styrofoam peel dioxin in form of vapor, these are attached to food and can not be metabolized by the body, so they remain stored in the walls of organs like the intestine and the liver.
Plastic foam is a highly polluting material for it does not rot or disintegrate. According to data from the Consumer Magazine in Mexico "around 8 million 500 thousand tons of this material is produced, much of which is used to make disposable plates that will be thrown away and that take hundreds of years to disintegrate." The numbers vary according to the size of the object, but it is estimated that a Styrofoam plate can take between 100 and 400 years to unravel, which does not mean that it will reinstate into nature.
Indie Food is an independent nonprofit organization that works for sustainable and gourmet food. Its aim is to disseminate information and connect all those working to change the world, three times a day, from their food choices.
Website: www.indiefoodproject.com
Facebook: Plate Project
Twitter: @indiefood
Follow the hashtag #plateproject
Follow the hashtag #plateproject
Contact:
indiefood@gmail.com
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