Whether you have been dreading the beginning of the new school year or counting down the days, the first day is quickly sneaking up on us or perhaps it has already begun for some. Before you know it, your kids will be hoping on the bus, and waving good-bye!
All I can think about is the large amounts of waste that is created every year with school lunches- plastic bags, paper bags, juice boxes, plastic utensils and the list continues. But what if I told you, you could create your own eco-friendly waste-less lunch for your kids and even for yourself?
I have been searching for an organic lunch bag myself the last little while. I was specifically looking for organic cotton and made in the USA. I was extremely excited when Essential Safe Products, also know as ESP, offered to send me a nice beige Green Rebel organic lunch tote. Perfect. Organic cotton, and made in the USA.
I am so in love with my bag. I adore the slogan on this particular tot “Bad habits are disposable. Good ones are reusable.” It comes with one reusable organic cotton napkin in a small pouch with the same print as the bag. It is so easy to clean. Just throw it in the washing machine. I have several stainless steel lunchbots (which you can also find on the ESP website), and they fit perfectly in my Green Rebel bag stacked one on top of each other.
After using my lunch bag for about a week, I decided to purchase a pink one for my daughter to bring to daycare and a more manly black one for my husband at work. I was happy to find a plastic-free and non-toxic option for my lunch and my families.
Apart from bring your own lunch bag to school, here are 5 other ways to make it a waste-less lunch:
- Reusable stainless steel containers are a great addition to your kids school lunches. They cane be used for a sandwiches, fruits and veggies, and snacks.
- To make one ton of paper towels, 17 trees are cut down and 20,000 gallons of water are consumed, and everyday, in the USA alone, over 3,000 tons of paper towel waste is produced. I think those are reasons enough to make the switch to cloth napkins, no?
- Most lunches contain 1 or 2 plastic sandwich baggies for snacks, and sandwiches. They are a disposable, one time use product. They do not biodegrade and pretty much last forever. Most recycling facilities do not accept plastic bags because they can jam the recycling machines. Most of the time plastic bags have to be brought to your local grocery store to be recycled. And most people find it easier to just throw them out and they end up in landfill. How about purchasing a few organic cotton baggies that can be reused, over and over again? Better for you, better for the environment.
- I bring my glass water bottle everywhere I go. It is easy to clean. Non-toxic. No leaching of chemicals. Doesn't take on the odor of what previously was in it. And best of all it is reusable, and no juice boxes or plastic water bottles are being used. Have your kids bring a stainless steel bottle or glass bottle to school, and help the environment one juice box at a time.
- Plastic utensils are flimsy. They are another one time use, disposable product. From my understanding are not always accepted by recycling facilities, like mine. So what happens to them? They end up in landfill where they will sit and sit and sit, and perhaps make their way to some body of water where they may broken down and be mistaken for food. These bamboo utensils may be the answer.
All these great products can be found on the Essential Safe Products website.
I bet you are all itching to get your hands on some waste-less lunch paraphernalia. Essential Safe products is giving away to one of my readers a Rebel Green Organic Cotton lunch tote.
My friend Lori is also hosting an Essential Safe Products(ESP) giveaway, too!!! Head on over to her site, Groovy Green Livin, and enter to win 1 Stainless Steel Pint Cup, 4 Stainless Steel Straws, and 2 Reusable produce bags (the same bags given to celebrities at the GRAMMYs and Oscars!!)
Disclosure CMP.LY/5