Welcome to May when our focus is on packaging. Last year we wrote about disposable paper cups, The Clean Bin Project, a lenten plastic fast, and closed off with a great post on single-use plastic bags, a Ted Talk on the pacific garbage patch & living life without plastic… Check out May 2011‘s posts to catch up.
For today we want to encourage you to evict the plastic wrap that has been living in your kitchen drawers for far too long and welcome in some handy alternatives!
Why make the switch?? Yes plastic wrap (Saran, Ezeewrap) can be convenient to wrap up odd sized food items for storage, or to cover a dish missing its lid. But plastic wrap is rarely reused and is very difficult to recycle.
Plus – to make plastic so thin and pliable plasticizers are used which can leach harmful chemicals into hot or fatty foods. These chemicals are said only to be harmful when we’re exposed in large amounts, however we must consider the compound effect of how many times we’re exposed to harmful chemicals every day and how many toxic items we add to our landfills which in turn can pollute our soil, air and water…
It is true that both Glade and Saran make a PVC-free plastic wrap but it’s still a single-use plastic product. Tin foil is considered a better alternative since most municipalities will accept it in their recycling. Although it is incredibly resource-intensive to mine and refine putting it no further ahead than plastic wrap in terms of environmental impact.
So aside from the obvious solution of using reusable containers, here are a couple of reusable ‘wraps’ if you are still in desperate and immediate need to wrap something….
- Reusable storage container covers made from laminate cloth. Apartment Therapy includes photos and a very handy DIY guide for making your own. Check out these beauties:
- Abeego Flat Wraps – beeswax infused hemp cloths. Watch the video to learn how to use these genius things:
These wraps are especially awesome because Abeego is totally plastic free! Their packaging includes: Glassine paper, labels printed with soy based ink. Here’s a little blurb from their product:
Abeego products are inspired by nature and believe natural materials are ideal for keeping real food fresh. The blend of pure ingredients, known for their preservative properties is the essence of Abeego. Abeego crafts natural and original food storage, used multiple times and in many ways that you can feel good about whole-heartedly.
Abeego was created in 2008 as an alternative to plastic film for food storage. Plastic film has only existed for fifty odd years. The human race has been storing food for ages.
Roll or fold Abeego and keep it with your other food packaging or your linen drawer. Or layer between cutting boards to store flat.
Their website shows you how to use them, care for them and they even send you a stack of “Abeego Bits” which can be used as a replacement for tape when you order them.
Any other ideas on plastic wrap alternatives?? Leave us a comment!
no waste wednesdays 
that abeego stuff is super cool! i make a habit of keeping hotel shower caps and use those – which is obviously still plastic and not ideal – but now that i’ve seen these options, i’m totally going to try that!
that ageego stuff is super cool! i make it a habit of keeping hotel shower caps and reusing those as container covers but obviously, since they’re also plastic that’s not ideal. i’m totally going to check out these products!
I just ordered a 3 pack of Abeego a few months ago… they are really very cool, although a tad pricy at $5/piece but they last a while if you wash them properly! Let me know how it goes!
Myriam
Organic-Please review of Abeego products!