[General] one-time-use

[Ashiuhto]

Please help me correct the following paragraph. Thanks!

For another thing, the use of one-time-use products such as disposable wood or bamboo chopsticks is widely seen as a waste of limited resources. According to a study, China’s disposable chopstick addiction is destroying its forests. As a result, severe deforestation has become one of China's gravest environmental problems. This widespread use of disposable chopsticks has proved detrimental for the environment.

 

[BobK]

I see no specifically grammatical problem, though from an environmental point of view I'd question the use of 'widely seen'. ;-)

b

 

[Ashiuhto]

What is the better expression of 'widely seen'?

 

[emsr2d2]

I don't mind "one-time-use/one-time use" but I'd probably refer to them as "single-use".

 

[Tdol]

I'd probably refer to them as "single-use".

I would too, or disposable.

 

[emsr2d2]

I was going to suggest that too but the word "disposable" appears four words later in the original piece.

 

[Tdol]

I would use second-hand before pre-used, regardless of usage patterns, and one-time-use seems to be up there in the terrible terminology that I won't adopt category. I could settle on single-use, but creating euphemisms beyond that is an exercise that strikes me as pointless.

 

[BobK]

I can't say I like 'one-time use', but it seems to me there is a distinction to be made between 'single use' (example - paper underwear) and 'one-time use' (example a ring-pull can, or a fuse wire - which is designed to fail once and only once (failing in a predictable way is its job).

Ashiuto: As I said, I was making a point about the environment (not to be pursued here - but worth describing, so that the point I'm making about semantics comes across). To say something is 'widely seen as X' suggests that there is a (sane) alternative view - so that you could say 'which are widely seen as an X, although the NNN see them as a Y'. '[D]isposable wood or bamboo chopsticks' just are a waste of limited resources. What could be said is that not everyone recognizes or cares about this. So if you want a participle in your sentence you could say '..., which are widely recognized to be a waste...'

b

 

[emsr2d2]

The chopsticks piece is for a school competition. Getting us to rewrite it is cheating.

Thread closed.