August 13, 2007

the lunch bag


It makes sense that to pack earth-friendly lunches for your kids, you'd try to make as little trash as possible. There is a huge selection available for the actual lunch box/bag, depending on your needs and preferences. One important consideration is to be sure the lunch bag does not contain lead or PVC.

One of my favorite resources happens to have a huge variety of lead-free lunch bags. Reusablebags.com sells various bags (like those from Mimi the Sardine and Basura Bags) as well as alternatives like bento-boxes and steel carriers. My son's school actually requests that students carry lunch in a basket, so that makes our choice pretty easy. We did use an insulated backback lunch bag from Fleurville for a long time and liked it.

Sending your child with a cloth napkin rather than paper is a pretty easy thing to do, too. Just don't send your fanciest ones! Using non-disposable utensils is a good idea. Stainless steel or even bamboo are some options. And rather than a juice box, use a drink holder that doesn't get thrown away. Sigg or Kleen Kanteen bottles are popular choices for a safe, reusable cup.

Speaking of juice boxes - the Basura Bags are made from colorful recycled juice containers to form cool, one-of-a-kind styles. Every day, children from the local schools collect over 50,000 used drink containers, called doy packs, then sell them to a women's co-op in the Philippines. The bags are sanitized and the women sew them together into attractive, durable bags. How cool!

Now, if only the lunch bags would pack themselves.

2 comments:

Gift of Green said...

Get out of my head!! I was just looking at those adorable lunch bags yesterday. They have the cutest patterns.

Anonymous said...

Check out the new organic cotton Hero Bags lunch bag. www.herobags.com my boys love theirs!