Category: Products

I made some personal changes recently since my last blog about recycling; I’ve noticed, with so much home time for so many of us right now, that there seems to be a lot more trash! Besides doing more takeout, it also means leftovers… at least to me. Though so much has been changed in my family household to be more sustainable over the years, one thing we’ve been slow to change has been the non-recyclable plastic we’ve been using for our food leftovers! The cling-wrap plastic and zip-top bags we’ve been using because of convenience has been more and more in my face.

Last year, when we moved to a new house, we took a look at the plastic storage containers we had accumulated over the years and realized they weren’t in good shape. In disposing of a vast majority of them, we looked at some healthier and more environmentally friendly options, and chose to go with the glass containers with silicon lids. They’re solid and store well; we like them a lot, and know they will last for a long time!

But that wasn’t enough. With all of this additional need for leftover food storage in the fridge recently, I started looking more closely at options to try to replace plastic wrap and zip-top bags.

Plastic wrap accounts for 6 percent of all packaging, 33 percent of plastic packaging and 19 percent of all plastic in the waste stream. Over half of the world’s plastic thrown out in 2015 was plastic packaging. That’s over 141 million metric tons. Takeout orders account for around 269,000 US tons of plastic waste that has entered the oceans. The average family goes through close to 1,000 plastic bags and 24 rolls of plastic wrap per year. Two boxes of plastic wrap, ranging from three to five dollars each, per month adds up to around nearly $90 per year. Then throw in plastic bags, which cost anywhere from $5 – 8 per box, and you are spending over $200 per year on something that you throw in the trash! (All of this and more can be found by a simple Internet search for “plastic wrap facts in the US”)

Some claim that using plastic zip top bags is “Earth-friendly,” and that their reusability and recyclability make them a good choice. However, it’s estimated that only around 11% of the population that uses these bags actually wash and reuse them more than once. From personal experience, I’ll add that after a few times (sometimes less), the zipping part of the bag – regardless of the type of “zip” – stops working. Also, to actually recycle the (clean and dried) bag, it has to be taken to the bins at the grocery store for single use plastic bags. A vast majority of the population who uses them simply put them in the trash after a single use, figuratively throwing money in the trash. Landfills are full of them, and the oceans have land masses of waste containing these plastic products, which leach into the water and are toxic to the fish and entire ecosystem. Oh yeah… the bags are petroleum-based and contain harmful chemicals… which are known to leach into your food, particularly with microwave use. (You can read more at….. Recycle Nation)

The Buzz on Beeswax Food Wrap

On a trip to Trader Joe’s one day for groceries, we purchased a roll of the beeswax cloth as an effort to try it out as a viable replacement for plastic wrap. I thought this was a clever and natural alternative. I had been looking into it, watched a few YouTube videos on using it, and it seemed easy and slick. So, we decided to give it a try.

It’s packaged as a large, rolled up single sheet that is to be cut it to size. Okay, so similar to plastic wrap, but to re-use it, there will be multiple different sizes of wax cloth to fit to containers that don’t have an airtight lid. I also need to find a place to store the pieces once they’re washed. However, here’s what made it tough for me out of the gate: We’d made brownies, and the square pan we have has rounded corners. We got rid of the lid years ago because of several cracks that made it no longer airtight. We thought this would be a good first use for the beeswax cloth; however, the rounded corners made it difficult for the cloth to shape to the pan, and it wouldn’t stay in place because it was kind of stiff. I went and looked at several more videos on using it and found out that the cloth needs to be much larger; the pan essentially needs to be wrapped like a present. I also learned that you need to hold your hand on the cloth to “melt” the wax to give it the seal that is needed. Also, it has special cleaning steps you need to follow to keep the reusability/sustainability intact. If not, you’ve bought expensive cloth that ends up in the trash, anyway.

Overall, my experience with the beeswax paper didn’t make me a fan. I’m not giving up on it yet – we’re committed, at least to the roll we purchased, so we’ll continue to play with it. – maybe we’ll try a few other brands/manufacturers and watch a few more videos! It has a lot of potential, but the extra effort and the clunkiness of using it – at least of the roll we bought – didn’t make it useful to me.  I’ll keep you posted… in the meantime, if you’ve used the beeswax food wrap successfully, please share in the Comments section!

Current overall grade based on my use of this product: C

Environmentally: A. Beeswax use will eventually lead to more bee colonies need and maybe the problems that bees are facing will be addressed. More bees also mean more pollinators out there. The cloth is plant-based as well. This is another environmental plus. The product is recyclable when it reaches end of life making it a very good alternative to plastic wrap.

Usability: D. There is a learning curve and the product doesn’t seem to be too forgiving when used. If it isn’t the correct size, then you might as well not use it at all.

I give usability a bigger weight in my evaluation, because no matter how environmentally friendly it is, people aren’t going to use it if there are issues. Currently plastic wrap is “easy” and convenient to use. I would consider this an advanced change and not something to use as a transitional tool. I think that it would turn people off from transitioning out of plastics and spoil the effort.

Though I will continue to try this while I have the roll, I’ll also continue to look for other alternatives.

Closing in on Reusable Zip-Top Bags

On to the next area we wanted to try out: zip-top storage bags. After looking at multiple options, we purchased this set of reusable silicon sealable storage bags and lids.

The package came with a set of bags of a few different sizes along with a set of stretchy silicon round covers. The bags are sturdy, work as expected, and are just like any other zip-top bag that you have used before (but a bit thicker). These use a slide on clip to hold the bag closed. I really felt that the clip held the bag closed better. Another design problem I have with the plastic bags is that sometimes the bag will tear along the seam by the seal, allowing it to leak or become trash. The silicon bags don’t seem to have this design issue. These bags can go in the refrigerator, freezer, microwave and dishwasher. Very good all around in that you don’t have to worry where you can use them!

For the most part, I would say these are a great replacement to the standard every day plastic bags. The silicon bags/covers are more spendy when initially purchasing them in comparison to plastic bags; however, if you consider it spread out over the life of the bag, you end up way ahead on the deal! Please – the ultimate goal – there will be far less plastic trash going out the door and into landfills.

Recently there was a large movement to try to eliminate plastic containers from use because of BPA. Most forget that plastic bags and plastic straws, while they don’t contain BPA, do contain substances that are just as harmful to you! Switching to non-plastic bags can do a lot for you both health-wise and environmentally.

Overall, I really like the reusable zip-top bags when comparing them to the standard plastic ones. The top feels more secure, the solid design will withstand wear and tear better than plastic zip-top bags. I can see using these for a long time. Though they cost more up front, I can see purchasing a few more just to have multiple numbers of various sizes. I highly recommend; give them a shot!

Current overall grade based on my use of this product: A

Environmentally: A. Lack of plastic and reusability make this product the go to for changing to a more environmentally friendly device. Reusability also makes this a great switch. These bags can be used many times over without any issues.

Usability: A. These bags are just as easy to use as the regular plastic bags. They don’t require any special use or care with makes them a dream to use. I also believe that since the bags are thicker, they are easier to use because you can put things in them, especially liquids or sauces, because they don’t flop around much with you hold them.

Remember, all effort to reduce plastic is a good one. Not everything is created equal, and there are most certainly some better ideas out there. Keep trying new things find something that works for you while making the effort to remove plastic from your life. While it may be nearly impossible to eliminate all plastic from your life right now, you most certainly can reduce what you use. There are more and more Earth- and people-friendly options being created every day; let’s continue to explore them and put them to use!

Join Me on This Quest!

Let’s all do this together! If you find something on the quest for living with a more positive impact on the environment, please share with me, either in the comments below, or via email at scott@greencoloredglasses.com!  I would love to hear from you about the different products you’ve used or found that would be great alternatives to what we have today.

Here are a few more I’m looking to try; stay tuned for the lowdown:

• Soap and cleaner tablets: I’ve discovered a healthy, natural, and eco-friendly soap and cleaner company that sends a bottle (use your own if you like) with a bunch of tablets; the tablets are actually the product, you add water, and voila… you have soaps and cleaners!
• Tubeless toothpaste
• Laundry soap sheets

Until next time…  ?

Long-term thinking…..one great example of something we didn’t think about over the big picture is plastic bags.  Yup, it’s something that today many can’t think to live without!  While they do have some pros, mostly the cons outweigh the good.

When I was growing up, paper bags were the only way you could carry purchases from a store; plastic bags were virtually nonexistent. The companies that started selling plastic bags launched a campaign that worked well by pointing out the problems with using paper bags, including deforestation and durability.  Durability was a no-brainer. A plastic bag is stronger than paper in terms of the mass that can be placed into it before tearing. True, paper can as well, but paper must be thick to support an equal amount of mass.  Plastic was supposedly able to be recycled or reused…but to be honest, how often do most reuse a plastic bag to get the full usability out of it?

As far as recycling, we all can see how that went.

• Apparently, Plastic Bags Were Invented To Save The Planet, But Then We Got Lazy (from Bored Panda)
• From birth to ban: A history of the plastic shopping bag (from Unenvironment)
• Battle of the Grocery Bags: Plastic Versus Paper (from NYTimes)
• In the 90s, we were taught to use plastic instead of paper to save the rainforest from deforestation. Now we’re taught to use paper instead of plastic to save the ocean from pollution Why? (from Quora)

My point on honesty and the change for the better goes to the deforestation portion of the campaign.  During that time, dwindling forests and natural habitat was a major concern talked about by everyone.  Plastic made sense in the easy and short term to save trees by using plastic instead of paper, use a plastic bag and save a tree.  However, the real problem was twofold:

• One, paper companies were not investing in their futures by planting trees where they removed them to keep a healthy population of forests going. The thought was since the forests were so vast there isn’t a real reason to plant new trees. Simply put, cost to do that bit into the bottom line.
• Second, recycling and recycled paper wasn’t utilized or widespread like it is today. Both solutions today would be considered sustainable living and sustainable practices and praised and even bragged about… and this is a reason why people are changing back to paper bags.

While I am not advocating for either (I personally use cloth reusable bags as often as possible), in our lives, some solutions do not consider the human factors of laziness and greed.  On paper (pun intended), some solutions work better than others… and when the people variable is involved, the “better” solution sometimes falls apart in implementation. Personally, the scuba diver in me screams loudly when I see plastic bags in use, because I have seen first hand where they end up.

But I digress…

Today’s topic isn’t about the GEW (Gross Environmental Weight) of one over the other.  Everything has a GEW, and one could make the argument that on the surface, plastic does have a lower GEW than paper. Today, it is about us as a society. If we are to be better today than yesterday, we must embrace change and not be afraid to change.  The adage, “It worked for me when I was growing up…” is failed logic.  In the bigger picture, if we stick to that, we would never progress, and we’d still be living in the Stone Age. Also, “It works for that country, but it won’t work in mine…” Well, if it works someplace else, why then wouldn’t it work where you are?  Just because it is different doesn’t make it bad.

When considering sustainable solutions, let’s work out the long term as well as the short term and make the changes in life quickly but with intelligence.  The most important and best solution is not as individuals, but as a society.  Just think of the short time that society switched from paper bags to plastic. In the United States, that change occurred over a span of less than 20 years. Now, I hope that we can change to something that is in the long term better for everyone and the planet in less time to help make a difference and clean up our home. By and large, the reason we “switched” was because companies decided for us to change and we went along with it.  We must do better and think for ourselves… and tell companies what we want and not the other way around. This is the economic basic of supply and demand! Sitting around waiting for someone to do it first is societal conditioning we’ve come to because we’re constantly barraged with corporate marketing that tries to dictate what is and is not good for us… most often with the ulterior motive of beefing up the company’s/industry’s bottom line.

Be open minded. Money is a short-sighted reason for not changing our habits; often, once the dollars and cents are worked out over the bigger picture, it actually does work out in our favor.  But that’s a blog for another day…