For environmentalists in China, disposable chopsticks have become a symbol of an increasingly unsustainable way of life. China now uses more than 45 billion pairs of disposable chopsticks every year, which necessitates cutting down 25 million trees. Many experts predict that at the current rate of consumption China will exhaust its remaining forests in about ten years. Chinese truck driver and environmentalist Kang Dahu laments, “Just imagine, years from now, when my grandchildren ask me what happened to all of China’s trees, I’ll have to say, ‘We made them into chopsticks.’ Isn’t that pitiful"”

Around the world, recycling has become part of the solution to environmental problems such as deforestation. In China, many of those concerned about the environment now carry their own chopsticks, which they wash after every meal and reuse. In the United States...