The plastic-free lunchbox guide By Katie Tyndale The pressure of trying to juggle hectic work and family lives makes it easy to understand why we often send our kids off to school with a lunchbox full of unrecyclable plastic. Buying multi-packs of snacks or prepackaged fruit and veg makes it cheaper and quicker to organise and prepare their lunches, particularly if you have more than one child.
B
ut five packed lunches a week, for thirty nine weeks each year makes for a lot of rubbish that will end up in landfill.
whatever it is your kids like to eat. Look for those that are machine washable and have waterproof liners!
So, what products have a more positive impact on our environment? Let’s look at the plastic-free swaps we can make.
Ditch the disposables If they take salads, pasta, yoghurts or something else that requires cutlery, don’t use nonbiodegradable disposable knives, forks and spoons. Stock up on bamboo cutlery: it’s light weight and durable, and can be composted when it’s past its best. Individual juice cartons fit neatly into lunchboxes but will usually then get thrown straight into the lunchroom bin (even if they don’t, many councils don’t recycle them) and one-use bottles of water and squash only add to the plastic problem. Send your children to school with a reusable stainless steel bottle with matching straw; or you can find straws made from bamboo or silicone.
Eco-storage Firstly, there are plenty of substitutions for the lunchbox itself. Bamboo and stainless steel containers are practical and hygienic and are made without any harsh chemicals. If you like to ensure your kids get something hot on chilly days, then pack lunch in an organic canvas lunch bag, insulated with wool, to keep food warm until they’re ready to eat. Wrap it up Next, throw out the cling film, silver foil and plastic bags and keep sandwiches fresh in compostable baking paper or beeswax wraps. These wraps seal around your food using the heat of your hands and can be washed and used multiple times; their lifespan is usually around a year. They come in different sizes, are anti-bacterial and water resistant, and can be composted once you’ve finished using them. Reusable sandwich wraps or cotton bags are also handy for carrying food in. Again, they come in a variety of sizes, so there’ll definitely be one that’s suitable for
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multiple servings, and decant portions from it instead? If you’re lucky enough to have a local plastic-free shop then it’s well worth dropping in. Take your own containers along and fill up with snacks like dried apricots, banana chips, apple rings and even crisps, leaving nothing to throw away at all! Clean and tidy With easy-closing storage boxes, bags and wraps, everything can be packed neatly away after your child has finished eating. No messy wrappers roaming free, covering everything else in leftover food, or drink cartons leaking everywhere.
It might be tempting to pop a packet of wipes in with their lunch, so they can clean their hands and faces once they’re done but most come in plastic packaging, and even the ones that are marketed as biodegradable hang around for a lot longer than is ideal. How about trying out some bamboo paper towels, or cotton napkins? Both can be washed and used repeatedly. Armed with the above knowledge it’s easy to make your child’s lunch box both yummy and plastic-free, so send them to school knowing you’ve done your bit to help our planet while they munch!
Katie Tyndale is the founder and owner of Bee Green Wraps and Let’s Go Plastic Free. She’s on a mission to remove single-use plastics from the planet and replace them with stylish, practical and eco-friendly products suitable for your whole family. For more information, visit beegreenwraps.co.uk and letsgoplasticfree.co.uk
Pick your own It can be tricky to find snacks in supermarkets that aren’t prewrapped: cheese sticks, oat bars and dried fruit generally come in some kind of plastic, much of which is non-recyclable. The answer could be to make your own. Cut cheese into lengths from a bigger block and batch-bake flapjacks or muffins, all of which can be stored without plastic. And rather than individual yoghurts, why not buy a big pot, containing
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