A large amount of pollution and waste is caused by paper and plastic bags as well as disposable utensils that are often used for only a few minutes, if at all, and then thrown away. Many restaurants will put your takeout food into a plastic or paper bag and give you disposable utensils and condiments without even asking you if you want them first. Then, often if you then tell them that you don't need the bag on your food they will take the bag off of your food and just throw it in the trash. The same goes for disposable utensils and such. If restaurants are required by law to first ask people if they want a bag before putting their food in it or other disposable utensils, it will cause people to think about whether or not they really want their food in a bag or need disposable utensils. This will result in many cases where the people will refuse these items when they are not really necessary. This will cut down on a large amount of waste and possibly even save the restaurants some of the money that they spend on supplies.