How to Make Lunch More Eco-Friendly? It’s in the Bag!

The world is exploding with trash, and you can trace it to at least one source: Your lunch bag.

What’s in there? A couple ziploc plastic baggies? Some prepackaged snacks in little plastic containers? Cracker trays with their own throwaway plastic knives? Disposable fruit cups? Aluminum foil wrap? It’s all destined for the trash bin at the end of the day. That’s a lot of mining, oil refining and industrial processes devoted to stuff that’s used for about 12 hours.

This school year make the switch to a completely reuseable, eco-friendly lunch array. You’ll reduce the trash you’re spewing, teach your children better ways and de-toxify their lunches. It’s easy. Here are eight ideas.

1 — One Mango Tree lunch bag – sold by World of Good at eBay. $22

This colorful lunch bag, sourced from local fabrics and nicely sized at 8.5″ wide, 9″ tall, 4.5″ deep with an inside button closure, is made by women in Northern Uganda in a region economically depressed by 20 years of political strife.

Its purchase helps the collective producing these bags feed and send their children to school. That’s a nice karmic circle as you get your own child ready for classes. OK, we admit we like this one for ourselves, but it’s also appropriate for teens.

2 – Bento Box lunch kit 2.0 – sold by Reuseit.com. $43.95

The concept here is that almost any sort of lunch tidbit can be delivered to the lunching person, if there are enough ways to cordon off foods. Your salad, crackers and fruit slices can all be neatly confined to their own territory. Everything here is protected by a small maze of containers, and while we don’t love the plastic abundance, it is BPA free and made for extended use – unlike the plastic wrap, disposable zip bags and the pre-packaged snacks that are swamping our school trash bins.

The kit includes a thermal carrying case, large outer container, five “microwavable safe” food containers (but we wouldn’t recommend microwaving anything in plastic), a sport bottle and a stainless steel utensil set and a recipe book with tips. It’s all BPA-free, and also free of phthalates and lead.

Kudos to the designers for making this so decorative and kid-friendly, and finding a way to make the containers in the US. The carrying case and sports bottle are made in China.

3 – A 3-piece lunch kit – sold by Blue Avocado. $24.99

This kit starts with a collapsible lunch bag that’s made from 50 percent recycled plastic from plastic bottles. It measures 6” x 10.25” x 9” and comes with a carbon footprint-audited impact label. It has been tested for food safety and is machine washable. Also in the kit: a reusable sandwich pack and a reusable “rezip” see-through snack bag. The lunch pack features a mesh water bottle holder for your own reusable water bottle.

The three women who started Blue Avocado in Austin believe in verifiable carbon reduction, and in keeping products as recyclable as possible. See more about their company at their FAQ.

4 – Bug and flower patterned snack bags — from EarthSwag.com. Pack of two $16

For those of you who already have a lunch bag, here’s a way to populate it with reusable snack holders. EarthSwag, started by entrepreneur Sara O’Connor of Basalt Colo., has designed bags made from cotton. That’s nice because they’re washable and they’ll biodegrade someday. The fabric is “bacteria-inhibiting,” making it food safe, O’Connor told us at a recent demonstration.

O’Connor says the biggest hurdle for people making the leap to reusables is the upfront cost of the bags, in this case, each one is $8. But they save users money over the year, as well as helping slow the flow of plastic trash that’s degrading our land and marine environments. Once people realize they really save money in the long term, they’re in, she said.

EarthSwag.com also sells sandwich wraps in matching fabrics.

5 – Sandwich sacks by Snack Taxi.com. $8.95 each

Owner Erin Kelly-Dill started this successful enterprise in 2003 after witnessing the vast number of disposable plastic bags the family was generating in school lunches. Since then, Snack Taxi has blossomed, and today the company makes one of the most durable reusable sandwich bags we’ve encountered. They’re cotton on the outside and lined with a nylon-like fiber inside, making them washable, and they come in dozens of fun patterns involving giraffes, gnomes and other whimsical things and creatures.

They’re available online and are sold in natural food and green living stores across the country. We got ours at the Wheatsville Coop in Austin. Find retail locations at the Snack Taxi website.

6 – A zip snack bag — from Blue Avocado. 4.99 each or 19.99 for a 6-pack

We couldn’t pass up this 6-pack, which seems like a great deal when you consider how many times you’d have to buy zip lock bags at the grocery to pack a year’s worth of lunches.

These bags are made of non-toxic Peva film, which is considered safe. Blue Avocado says they’ve been lab tested for food safety and are machine washable. We would add that the safest approach to any plastic is to never heat anything in it, and to wash it in cold water. That said, we like the see thru aspect of these bags….and the company’s commitment to upcycling, recycling and reducing.

7 – Lunch Bots containers — sold by Reuseit. $11.95 to $14.95

Not everything in a lunch can be tossed into a bag. Sloppy stuff like salads or fruit slices or even, ummm, pie, require a little more stability. Pack these things in a stainless steel Lunch Bot, which is available in a single, duo- and trio-compartment versions.

We have zero reservations about stainless steel. It’s washable, recyclable and imparts no funny smells from yesterday. Lunch Bots also are lead free and BPA free. This is truly a workhorse product, and while it reminds us of those stainless steel thermoses of yesteryear, this is a lightweight item, appropriate even for the toddler set.

Why did we ever abandon this material for plastic? Oh yeah, plastic comes in colors. But Lunch Bots have colorful lids of coated steel. Fun without the big trash footprint.

Speaking of thermoses, LunchBots.com makes one of those too. Find it at their site.

8 – Stainless steel utensils — made by Zelco, sold at Reuseit. $13.95 for a set

Why are we plowing through millions of plastic spoons, forks and sporks every day? There’s no reason, and no need if you’re packing a lunch at home. Once you’ve gotten your lunch bag and containers selected, it’s time to get right with utensils.

We like this stainless steel set by Zelco because it comes with a cover to protect the utensils from ickiness in the lunch bag.

Bamboo utensils are another option, and you can find a set of three from Reuseit for $7.95. They might not be quite as durable as the stainless, but they’re eco-friendly both at the source, and when they’re done. Ours are on their second year and holding up quite well. We wash them by hand.

Cotton and recycled carrying cases are available for these eating tools.

*****

Not only with these supplies hold you in good stead this school year, they’ll encourage a healthier way of eating. When you’re packing your own snacks — instead of those pre-packed by Big Food brands — you can leave out the sugar, food dyes and preservatives.

So this school year, or work season, challenge yourself to be trash-free. You may just find that less is more.

Tags: eco-friendly lunch bags, reusable lunch bags