Recently, at my monthly quiz meet, I was intrigued by this “green” container for chai, from Chai Point. 

The container seemed made of cardboard, an ecologically friendly material. But when I visited the website of Chai Point You can visit it here.

I found that it was made of “food grade PET” – PET is polyethylene terephthalate, which is, in their own words, “use and throw”.  Only  the outside cover is cardboard! Surely, using thermos flasks that were properly cleaned would have been a better solution, especially when we now have metal flasks which retain heat for a long time and are quite hygienic?

Also, the handle in the container (in the centre of one side)   was not strong enough to pick it up using only the handle. Both the flasks had wilting handles which made the containers suddenly tilt to one side. Making handles on both corners (like some cups do) would have made the handle usable…and without the handle, it was awkward to lift up the container and pour the chai with any degree of control (the cups they send are quite tiny and any loss of control results in spillage of chai.)

Sometimes, I feel, green is only green in inverted commas. Chai Point, my suggestion is, use more of your money to clean stainless steel flasks thoroughly (you say you didn’t like to see flasks smelling of  dish-washing soap) …and use them!