At NELSON WADE, we recommend Titanium Chopsticks for Green Eating

The world’s appetite for Asian-inspired foods such as sushi and fusion Thai cuisine seems to be matched only for its appetite for experience enhancing chopsticks.

Unfortunately, disposable chopsticks aren’t exactly environmentally friendly, as an estimated 25 million trees in China alone are being sacrificed to keep up with demand for these traditional eating implements.

The loss has been so great, in fact, that China instituted a first-ever tax on disposable chopsticks in 2006. In their place, officials are encouraging Chinese to break with tradition and use metal chopsticks to reduce waste, pollution and the deforestation of the entire country.

In light of the fact that 1.3 billion Chinese are interested in this issue and are changing their eating habits, we thought your readers would find this product concept and its unique qualities extremely interesting.

While disposable chopsticks seem innocent enough, they require 2.2 million cubic yards (1.7 million cubic meters) of timber to fill China’s annual need for 45 billion disposable chopsticks. Exports to Japan and South Korea have created a demand for 15 billion additional pairs. In the last decade alone, 165,000 metric tons of chopsticks have found their way onto dinner tables worldwide. Surprisingly, some environmentalists say that disposable chopsticks are wasteful on the same level as plastic bags and clear plastic CD cases.

So what options do Asian food lovers have if they want to reduce waste in landfills, deforestation and greenhouse gases?

The answer lies in metal chopsticks. While steel chopsticks have been around for some time, they are heavy, prone to spotting, can be reactive to chemicals as well as the human body and can transfer flavors to the food. Titanium, on the other hand, doesn’t rust or react to most chemicals, is inert to the human body, hypoallergenic and doesn’t pass on flavors to the food.

While other materials such as plastic make suitable chopsticks, they often end up in the garbage, rather than being recycled. Titanium, on the other hand, is still considered a “space age metal” and it is highly recyclable. In fact, on the recycling market, titanium is highly prized, due partly to its rarity. Even after decades of use, titanium chopsticks like TiStix can still be repurposed and reused. More likely, they will become family heirlooms, that are handed down from generation to generation, much like ivory chopsticks of generations past.

TiStix are newsworthy not only because of the innovative design and use of unusual metals, but the fact that the even the Chinese, who invented chopsticks more than 5,000 years ago, are anxious to change their ancient practices to address modern concerns about the environment, deforestation and pollution.

Additionally TiStix are made of recycled surplus titanium, as yet another way to lessen the increase of waste on the planet by breeding new life from it.

About TiStix

The brainchild of metals artist Alan Folts, the concept of TiStix began in 2003 when Alan wondered how he could make chopsticks in a sleek modern style, in contrast to the more traditional products out there. Finding a post on a forum asking if anyone knew how to make chopsticks out of titanium, Alan accepted the challenge. After some experimentation, TiStix was born.

Today, TiStix have taken on a new level of importance as customers look for greener ways to conduct their lives. The titanium chopsticks are not only stylish, but contribute to the reduction in landfill waste, greenhouse gases emitted by factories overseas that churn out 60 billion pairs of disposable chopsticks for China and Japan alone, and drastically reduce the depletion of forests worldwide. There are also additional benefits for customers, including better tasting food, the lack of chemical transfers of metals to the food and better sanitation.

TiStix are manufactured in the United States at Folts Knives in Greenville, NC.

At NELSON WADE we recommend chopsticks made with recycled surplus titanium  from TiStix. The chopsticks from TiStix are well designed, innovative, balance and very light!

View TiStix web site for titanium chopsticks www.tistix.com.