a peek inside the fishbowl

I think, on the whole, anything deemed “single use” is crap on the environment, don’t you think? It’s scary to think about all the products we buy, use, and just throw away. i.e.

– Paper napkins
– Plastic drinking straws
– Take-out containers
– Plastic wrap
– Paper lunch bags
– Paper towels
– Coffee filters
– diapers

… and that’s just what I could think off of the top of my head, pre-coffee. We can also add wipes, tissues, cotton swabs, and feminine hygiene products to that list, but I’m not sure anyone is ready to talk about that yet. ;)

It’s best for everyone if we do our best to pare down the amount of single-use items we have around the house.

Have you noticed how many people are starting to use cloth bags nowadays? It used to be that cloth shopping bags were the sole domain of the hippies, you rolled your eyes when you watched someone shoving a bag of granola into an unbleached cotton bag with an “I [heart] Hemp” logo on the side, but times have changed. It’s finally become hip to bring your own tote to the store. Not only that, but it’s becoming less and less socially acceptable NOT to be on that environmental bandwagon. Mark my words, within a couple of years, plastic grocery bags will be totally phased out and if you’re ever caught carrying one your neighbours are going to give you the stink-eye and wonder if you’re secretly spraying pesticides on your lawn.

Plastic produce bags (those small clear ones used for fruit and vegetables) are another one of those use single use ‘convenience’ products that clog up the landfills, use precious resources, and end up in intestinal tracts of sea turtles. Jenn mentioned mesh produce bags in the comments of yesterday’s post. Her comment is timely because I’ve been thinking about this very thing.

Until now, I have been taking my share of those produce bags to pack my fruit (I’ll take them for apples, but not bananas; oranges, but not mushrooms), and tying them loosely so I can untie them easily. I have been saving them, and saving them, waiting for a day when I can use one or two. For some reason, those days are few and far between. They are just not useful to me. There’s a pile of bags now, and that pile is not getting any smaller. Yes, I can probably return them to the store and drop them in the bin for used bags. If I wanted to, I could probably even reuse them for produce. Since neither of these options appeal to me I’ve had to take the matter into my own hands and make my own.

(!)

Yes, me… the gal who finds a sewing machine just as challenging as driving the space shuttle.

I looked online around for patterns (there are a few out there) but in the end I just winged it and sewed them on my own, no measuring, no fancypants detail work, just cutting and sewing with a little foldy thing at the top to accommodate a drawstring (and I haven’t found the right string to use for this yet.)

Here’s the before and after views:

Here’s a larger view. What do you think?

I used a light type of netting, which happened to be on supersale at Fabricland recently. It was something crazy like $5.00/metre and the bolt was three metres wide. I also made one with green bias tape, but the process was a little too finicky for an impatient little sewer like myself (and it totally showcased my crooked stitchery), so I made the rest without.

We’ll see how well it stands up to a dozen apples, but I think it will do.

This was so simple to make I don’t know if I should even bother giving instructions. I will say that each one measures roughly 10 x 14 (I used a special sewing technique called ‘eyeballing.’ This is all very cut n’ sew.) If you really want to know I can explain it as best as I can. Or you can ask your mom to make one for you. Or buy them. Here’s one one Etsy.

Now if I could only find a good drawstring. The first couple I made with a pretty green silky cord, but I’d really like something more rustic-looking.

Thoughts?

This sight made me happy beyond words.

Our school encourages parents to pack litter-free lunches. You know me, I love this idea, and we adhere to it as much as we can.

This means:

•  a reusable, insulated lunch bag
• the main dish (sandwich, soup, hummus, whatever) is packed in a plastic food storage container (I would like to find an alternative to this.)
• fruit (is packed in its own skin, or if it’s cut up it is packed in a small container.)
• yogurt/applesauce is not purchased in small lunch-sized containers. We buy the bigger containers and take some out and put them into smaller ones for kids.
• no juice boxes. We pack water in a SIGG bottle, sometimes milk in a sippy thing.
• smaller desserts, such as cookies or raisins or goldfish crackers are also poured into smaller containers. Nothing comes individually packaged.

Naively, I thought all parents at our school were following the litter-free guideline as well. The last time I volunteered during a field trip I realized this wasn’t the case. I watched one kid in particular as she unpacked her lunch. Everything had a wrapper. The sandwich was in a zip-lock, she had a pudding tube and some chewy gummies and lor’ knows what else. By the time she was finished eating she had a pile of garbage that was bigger than her head.

I suggested (to the teacher) that we force the kids to keep their garbage in big clear bags to see how much accumulates by the end of the year. The class with the least amount of garbage wins. She didn’t go for it. ;)

Seriously, I don’t think packing a sandwich in a container is any more work than packing it in a baggie. What do you think?

Can you, or do you already, achieve a litter-free lunch for yourself and for your kids?