The low-down on take-away Ice Cream

 Yes, I know... we don't eat ice cream anymore because it is made from dairy but... our niece was visiting and... she loves ice cream! Sooo... we had a bit of a spate of ice cream buying a few weeks ago and I realized, it's all such a waste.

Back in the olden days... long before waffle cones... there were those plain old cones... the crunchy ones that seemed to always clog up my teeth. You know the ones. They worked well even though they could be quite drippy and had a tendency to break.... and the bottom might be thrown away too because it was just too much cone and not enough ice cream.

Then we had waffle cones... mmm... so yummy! More expensive... but so good... although... they too could be messy. And even more breakable than the regular cones. On top of that, they might leak through the bottom. But still, quite nice.

Plastic sleeve for a waffle cone

Both the regular cones and waffle cones were perfect for take-away ice cream... at least in theory. There was limited waste, maybe just a few cone bottoms and some napkins. 

Until... some keen entrepreneur came up with a solution... a disposable ice cream cone sleeve. Yes... you heard it right. Now you can put your waffle cone in a plastic sleeve...

Who comes up with these ideas? Someone who sees a way to make a fast buck in the name of "convenience". Who cares about the plastic and the planet?

DQ Blizzards

And then... along came Dairy Queen and all of a sudden, there were all sorts of plastic containers and lids and spoons and plastic-coated cups in which you could have your ice cream concoction.

While the clear cups might be recyclable... those plastic coated cups that the Blizzard comes in are not. While they might say they are "recyclable", most recycling facilities are not equipped to separate the plastic liner from the paper. And... the plastic spoons? Check and see if they have a number on them... not just a recycling logo. They don't. And without the number, there is no way to know what type of plastic was used to make those spoons. And... while researching this, I just learned a few things about plastic recycling... but that is another blog post. Suffice to say, unless it has a "1" or a "2" on it, it is a toss up as to whether or not it will be recycled... even if it ends up in your recycle bin.

All of this means that going to DQ is a bit of a disposable nightmare. Solution? Bring you own long-handled metal teaspoon? That would eliminate the famous red DQ spoon but what about the rest of it? No real solution at this point. Although... I did email DQ's corporate headquarters asking them what they are doing to move away from disposable plastic products... we'll see what sort of a response I get... if any.

Mmm... Peanut Buster Parfait...

Editor's Aside: Did you know that a Peanut Buster Parfait has 710 calories? Shocking, no? But then, a large Oreo Blizzard has a whopping 1340 calories. Wow.

And then... at our local corner store, you can now get ice cream in a small cup... which is much easier to eat, and less messy, than a traditional cone. But... the plastic coated cup is still not recyclable... nor is the flimsy plastic spoon that they give you. Mind you... that is better than the ice cream we got last week at a corner store in another community... they actually still use styrofoam cups!!

There are eco-friendly alternatives out there but... they are likely more expensive than the products that most ice cream shops use. Like little wooden spatula spoons instead of plastic spoons and using compostable cupss instead of disposable ones.

Or... perhaps it is to just order ice cream in a cone and then bring your own bowl and spoon.... dump it all into the bowl and eat it that way... and the poor, sad, compostable cone can be tossed... or something...

Or... just ditch the dairy and skip the take-away ice cream... sigh. Maybe just buy a tub of ice cream from the store instead... or a box of Magnums... except they come wrapped in plasticized something-or-others as well. Sooo hard to ditch the plastic.

PS - I head back from DQ headquarters... all of their stores are franchises and locally owned and operated so they recommend contacting the local one. Although that doesn't address the issue of DQ's standardized spoons, cups, etc.