Chinese told they must swap chopsticks for knives and forks to stop destroying forests

Chinese people are being urged to stop using so many chopsticks due to the burden they are placing on the world's forests.



Residents of the largest country on the planet are believed to use an astonishing 80billion pairs of disposable wooden chopsticks every year.



Now a leading official has called for diners to start reusing their cutlery - and has even suggested that the Chinese should turn to knives and forks instead of chopsticks.

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Snack: But the Chinese are using so many chopsticks that they could cause widespread deforestation with their eating habits

For the past 4,000 years, chopsticks have been the primary method of eating within China, and in the minds of many they are practically synonymous with Chinese cuisine.



But the country's rising prosperity and increasing environmental awareness means the volume of wood used could be about to reach a tipping point.

Bo Guangxin, chair of a state-owned timber company, told the annual parliament that it was time for China to turn away from wooden chopsticks.



He pointed out that since a mature tree yields around 4,000 pairs of chopsticks, the nation used up the equivalent of 20million trees in the past year.



The chopsticks used and thrown away in China over the course of the year would fill Tiananmen Square 360 layers deep, he told the National People's Congress.



Curb: A government official has urged residents to switch to knives and forks

'We must change our consumption habits and encourage people to carry their own tableware,' Mr Bo said to delegates.



He continued by saying that diners might have to adopt the Western habit of using metal or plastic knives and forks to cut down on wood usage.



The congress is considered a rubber-stamp body with little decision-making power, but the speeches made there can provide clues to the future policies of the ruling Communist Party.



This is not the first time that authorities have raised concerns about the use of chopsticks in China.



In 2006, a five per cent tax was imposed on all disposable chopsticks and wooden flooring, but it evidently had little long-term effect.



And in 2011, a British campaign group warned that China was importing 180million cubic meters of timber every year to feed its runaway economic development.



The activists claimed that 10 per cent of the country's wood imports came from illegal sources, and concluded that 'the fate of much of the world's natural forests is in China's hands'.

VIDEO Campaigners bring awareness to the cause