September 16th, 2007

Eco-friendly Lunches: Brown Bagging It Goes Green

Posted by Carey Okrand

Try this one week: save all the bags, plastic boxes, paper, cans and other stuff you get from grabbing lunch at your favorite sandwich shop near your work. Or keep a record of all the stuff you send off with your kids in their lunches one week. Likely you’ll be looking at a small mountain of stuff– much of which doesn’t end up being recycled.

You can make your lunch a much more sustainable affair by taking a few simple steps. Sack lunches aren’t just for kids anymore. It’s easy to stylishly “brown-bag-it” these days with abundant choices available, from reusable containers, totes, bags, and water bottles to complete lunch kits! “BYO” is the healthy, economical way to go from brown to green!

1. Bag the plastic and paper bags. Vinyl-free, lead free bags are smart alternatives to throwaway paper and plastic bags. They’re available in so many styles, fabrics and sizes. Check out the ultra-hip To-Go Ware® Lunch Kit Stainless Steel Carrier and Laptop Lunches - Bento Box. The site Reusablebags.com has a huge selection of boxes and bags. You’ll never go hungry again.

2. Another innovative alternative to plastic baggies and foil is the clever Wrap-N-Mat. These smart reusable sandwich wrappers unfold into place-mats and are lined to clean up easily, with a Velcro closure to keep contents secure. I use them to wrap cookies and crackers too.

3. Pack a safer alternative to the plastic water bottle!  Safer for your health and safer for the environment, Kleen Kanteen stainless steel bottles are reusable, lightweight and won’t leach chemicals into your water. They look swank and you won’t be wasting resources on plastic bottles or aluminum cans (remember recycling uses energy too).

4.Slip a cloth napkin or a 100% recycled, chlorine free napkin, and biodegradable, compostable utensils from Jaya or Bambu into your eco-friendly lunch and you’re good to go!!

Take these steps and you’ll find you’re reducing the trash you send to a landfill by hundreds of pounds per year. Now that’s delicious.

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