Everytime I’m at a fast food place, I’m amazed by the amount of packaging that is used solely to transport food from the kitchen to your mouth, and then discarded. It’s clearly incredibly wasteful, but nobody seems to notice or care. Fair enough (most people aren’t immediately concerned), but shouldn’t there be some legislation against such gross waste?
A few places make inconsistent efforts to provide plates and cutlery. Nandos will put your food on a plate if you’re dining in, but they will often include some unnecessary packaging as well. For example, they will wrap the burger in grease-proof paper, or place the chips in a bag and then on the plate. What’s the point? Are their plates dirty or something?
I think the general perception would be that it’s crazy to make fast food places provide plates and glasses for dine-in, but I really feel that this has just been trained by familiarity (rather than based in logic). Other types of restaurants serve food on reuseable crockery; Why not fast food restaurants? When I was in Thailand, KFC served food on a special food tray (like a plate with sections) and drinks in glasses. It just made sense.