This phenomenon did not become common in North America until the 1980s. It probably started with the less fat, more carbohydrates dietary guidelines that left people hungry all the time (and fat), instead of satiated and thin pre ~1977. Now people eat & drink from disposable containers all over the place. I was watching some house hunters on HGTV and the 20 something wife had a 20-oz disposable cup of coffee with her the entire time, gesturing with it and setting it down on homeowners' unprotected wooden furniture as if it was a natural thing to do - I was ready to scream! It would be like marching through a person's home with muddy shoes.

Most food-smeared food containers are not recyclable and I've never seen anyone wash a plastic container at the mall so they could put it in a recycling bin instead of the garbage. You'd think in this day and age the planet huggers would be refusing to use them, but they are some of the worst offenders and don't even clean up the mounds of garbage after their rallies and protests. Meanwhile old ladies like me prefer to eat and drink off ceramic/glass with real cutlery that we have been reusing for decades, and when travelling bring our own mugs and food in reusable containers.