It’s the end of an era for the adorable, disposable fish full of soy sauce. In one part of Australia, at least.
South Australia is set to become the first place on Earth to ban the iconic plastic soy sauce fish, known in Japan as shoyu-tai or the “soy-sauce snapper.” Invented in 1954 by Teruo Watanabe, these adorable polyethylene soy sauce dispensers were initially dubbed the “Lunch Charm.”
Today, they’re used in all kinds of ways, from Japanese parents including them in a bento box as they send their child off to school to global sushi chains slipping them into takeout orders. However, starting September 1, they were being phased out by Australia’s new ban on single-use plastics.
Under the new rules, any prefilled soy sauce container under 30 milliliters without a lid or stopper is illegal. That means the iconic plastic fish soy sauce dispenser is done for. But the plastic sacks that could be torn open like a ketchup packet? Those are okay, for now.
Fish-Shaped Soy Sauce Packets Are Now Banned in Australia. Here’s Why.
According to South Australia’s Environment Minister, Dr. Susan Close, these dispensers are used for only a few seconds before being discarded. Their size makes them prime candidates for getting washed down drains or ending up on beaches. They’re “convenience packaging” that can easily be swapped for bulk soy sauce bottles or reusable alternatives.
Speaking with The Guardian, marine ecologist Dr. Nina Wootton warns that the fish-shaped plastic is a disaster waiting to happen, suggesting that sea creatures that eat fish the size of those plastic soy sauce containers could think it’s a fish and then eat it.
And even if they don’t get eaten by fish, they still wreak havoc on our environment and our oceans since they are made of a thick plastic that takes forever to break down, if they break down at all. This probably wouldn’t be an issue if they were made of a biodegradable material.
And it’s not just a little plastic soy sauce fish being affected. Other parts of the quick Asian food market are being affected too, like plastic cutlery and polyurethane bowls that usually accompany instant noodles.
Conservation groups are hoping this is all just phase 1 and a larger, ongoing effort to cut plastic waste down at its source and hold responsible the companies that produce these products and use them in their food packaging.
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