A non-assuming comment by someone at the Bamboo Kamakura event caught my attention.

"These bamboo cups are so nice. I wish we could keep them and use them at home."

But, aren't these exactly the types of things that can be "single use." Taken from the woods nearby (bamboo grows like weeds and is an invasive species in many areas, even in Japan) and crafted for useful purposes, they will become nutrients when returned to from where they came.

"Littering" itself isn't the problem. The problem is that in the last few decades, we've decided to make everything out of materials so toxic, so harmful that they must be completely quarantined from nature to prevent harm. Materials that CAN'T be returned to nature.

Natural, peaceful products that don't harm the environment have become so rare nowadays, that we want to bring them into our houses and preserve them, while at the same time dumping millions of tons of non-degradable plastic into the environment everyday.

It seems it is us in "advanced" nations are the most backward of all.