So which resources are you trying to save then?

It isn’t correct that the French get everything to do with food right:

Fast-food chains in France are preparing for one of the biggest changes to their restaurants in decades as the government bans disposable plates, cups and tableware for anyone eating or drinking on-site.

Chains such as McDonald’s, Burger King, Starbucks and Subway are facing what environmentalists have called a “revolution” on 1 January as pioneering new measures come into force in France to combat waste.

Much of the fast-food industry uses an economic model built on throwaway boxes, cups and packaging which customers tip from their tray into a bin straight after eating.

Under the new rules, any restaurant with more than 20 seats – including work canteens, bakery chains, fast-food and sushi outlets – will have to provide reusable, washable cups, plates, dishes and cutlery for customers eating in.

Combatting waste is a synonym for that saving of resources which is so important these days. You know, that walk more lightly upon this Earth and all that.

Except, well, which resources?

Less paper will be used this way, we’re sure. Less polystyrene perhaps. And more energy - no one is going to be using cold water plate washing techniques, or at least we hope not in a commercial environment. And more human labour, obviously - we’ve been there, done that, washing up requires more labour than rolling up paper for the bin.

So, which resources is it that we’ve scarcity of? Well, obviously, all of them, so resources use reduction depends upon a complicated blend of which we’re least scarce of in order to get the job done. So how would we do that complicated calculation?

Prices, obviously. The only calculating engine we’ve got that is fine grained and timely enough to chew through that problem for us.

And here’s the thing. Profit seeking capitalists have had a look around at prices and worked out that the least resource use is achieved - across all those resources, energy, labour, capital, machinery, usables, paper, polystyrene and the rest - by the use of the paper and other disposables.

Apparently the bureaucrats know better. Well, no, they don’t, because they’ve not asked, let alone answered, the one important question here. Which is “Why did fast food settle on the system it has?”

Having not asked that one important question they then insist, by law, on a system which uses more resources in order to save resources.

We’re not quite sure whether that’s a commentary upon bureaucracy or France but we are sure that it’s not the right way to be doing things.