China gets a bad rap for how bad it is, environmentally. Their negative reputation is true in some cases – but not all.
A few weeks ago, I was in Hong Kong (admittedly the most western-leaning part of China… but still China). I saw this great sign on a container for plastic utensils. Starbucks was simply asking the potential user to consider going without – for the sake of the environment. I’ve never seen that in the States (in the case of plastic utensils).
I have a bag of plastic cutlery at the office that I have washed and used repeatedly. It accumulates faster than it wears out. I only get rid of it when the tines break on the forks, or when I give some away to someone else.