ANNAlytical.com

I brought my lunch to work, but need a fork to eat it. Today, I forgot my fork. My office has gone green and doesn’t have forks on hand as they get wasted in a major way. No big deal, Taco Bell sounded good; I’ll cheat and have some good ol’ drive thru food.

I order, I pay at the first of two windows.

At the first window I get asked if I want hot sauce, sure thing! Then I get a plastic bag with 2 napkins, a bunch of hot sauce, and my receipt.

At the second window is where I get my food, also in a plastic bag. I ordered two crunchy tacos and a chicken quesadilla. Three food items, all wrapped separately. The quesadilla is wrapped in paper and plastic because you need to have the handy quesadilla viewing window… right? I also have my separate plastic bag (aka hot sauce and napkin holder) to keep everything safe.

Call me revolutionary, but I started wondering if Taco Bell would want to cut costs and perhaps go a little green. If they do, they have some room for improvement here.

Dear Taco Bell, here are three ways you can think outside the bag:

- Unless I do not have sufficient limbs, I can hold the hot sauce while I advance to the next window. I don’t need a separate plastic bag to hold my napkins and hot sauce. It seems you don’t want window #2 guy to deal with my hot sauce needs, but perhaps you can have another team member who is dealing with the bag that my food will be in to add my napkins and said number of hot sauces. I know you can work this out for everyone’s benefit. $$ Less bags used saves you money. $$

- Please ask each car how many hot sauce packets they need; I only needed one or two, not eight. $$ Less sauce packets used saves you money. $$

- Your quesadillas are very pretty indeed. I just finished mine while writing this post. I did not need to admire it through a plastic viewing window; just wrap it in paper and I will still like it. $$ Less plastic used saves you money (I hope!). $$

The less plastic you waste, the happier I’ll be. Live a little greener Taco Bell. Thanks!