Kobe Japanese Steakhouse Changes Chopsticks: No More Bamboo

For nearly 25 years, Kobe Japanese Steakhouse customers have always been able to find the freshest ingredients, the best Teppanyaki chefs in the business, and a fun, festive atmosphere.

Starting this month, there will be something that customers won't find at Kobe: bamboo chopsticks.

The chain is switching to plastic chopsticks at all eight of its restaurants. The effort is part of the company's continuing effort to be as "green" as it can be.

"Wooden chopsticks date back 3000 years, but I think it's time to break tradition," says Kobe owner Chau Nguyen. "I want to do our part to help stop the depletion of bamboo forests."

While bamboo is a fast-growing and renewable resource, increasing demand is resulting in clear-cutting and harvesting in environmentally sensitive areas. Environmental groups point to endangered species that rely on bamboo forests for food and habitat.

In China alone, 45 billion pairs of wooden chopsticks are used and thrown away every year. That's equal to cutting down 25 million trees. In an effort to encourage people to switch to reusable chopsticks, the Chinese government added a 5% tax to wooden chopsticks in 2006. Japan throws away about 24 billion pairs of chopsticks every year.

In an average year, Kobe uses about 1,000,000 pairs of chopsticks at its eight restaurants.

The reusable chopsticks will be treated just like traditional utensils and cleaned in the dishwasher.

"We've switched from plastic to paper bags, from bottled to filtered water ... it just makes sense to switch from bamboo to plastic. I think our customers will agree as we say goodbye to our waribashi, as they are known in Japan," says Nguyen.

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