PETA Puts Twist on Foam Ban–Compliant To-Go Boxes

Restaurants Offered Recyclable Containers With a Message Touting the Eco-Friendliness of Vegan Meals

For Immediate Release:
January 14, 2016

Contact:
Catie Cryar 202-483-7382

As restaurants in D.C. and Montgomery County scramble to comply with the new ban on the foam packaging that has so severely polluted the Anacostia River, PETA is offering local eateries free paper to-go boxes, each plastered with the question “This Container Is Eco-Friendly, but Is Your Meal?” The boxes go on to point out that animal agriculture guzzles natural resources and accounts for an estimated 50 percent of global greenhouse-gas emissions.

“An eco-friendly container doesn’t mean much if the food inside it is responsible for polluting soil and water, churning out greenhouse gases, and sucking up our planet’s water supplies,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA’s take-out boxes give local restaurants a boost while reminding diners that helping the planet is as easy as choosing healthy, Earth-friendly, vegan meals.”

As PETA, whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat,” notes on its to-go box, a burger or steak wastes about 460 gallons of water and produces almost 4 pounds of greenhouse gases. A serving of cheese wastes 50 gallons of water and produces about 2 pounds of greenhouse gases, while each serving of fish represents up to 1.3 other aquatic animals killed during production. It takes 13 times as much water to produce chicken as it does to produce an equivalent amount of vegetables—and 41 times as much water to produce bacon as opposed to potatoes.

Those interested in requesting a free supply of specially printed to-go boxes can call 757-622-PETA or visit PETA.org.