3 Eco-Friendly Lunch-Packing Materials To Stock Up On Now

Say goodbye to plastic baggies, everyone.

As kids return to the classroom and parents return to the office, packing lunches is suddenly part of our daily routine again. It needs to get done, so you may as well do it sustainably.

Cutting down on single-use plastic bags and cutlery is a small step in making our planet clean and green. Americans use a staggering 100 billion plastic bags every year, which equates to nearly every single person using one plastic bag per day. But there are plenty of sustainable food-packaging alternatives that can put a stop to that.

Next time you’re making lunch, ditch the plastic baggies and opt for these eco-friendly products for packing your food.

SuperBee

There are great reasons to mind your beeswax. Beeswax is an eco-friendly product used to wrap food while keeping it fresher longer. Its natural antimicrobial properties and breathability help destroy potentially harmful microorganisms, meaning your avocado will stay edible for a few more days.

SuperBee was created in 2016 in Northern Thailand to combat the single-use plastic problem rampant throughout Southeast Asia. Made from organic cotton and locally sourced beeswax, these clever and colorful wraps and bags come in sets with alpaca and dinosaur designs for the kids and violet flowers and chevron patterns for the adults.

This social enterprise also employs a team of local women to create these products, paying them 20% more than the wage recommended by the Fair Trade Association. This ethically made lunch packaging is both sustainable and super cute.

Zoe Schaeffer

Kitchen Garden Textiles is a Philadelphia-based brand that makes products using 100% natural linen, hemp blends and reclaimed cotton. Materials like hemp and linen have natural antibacterial properties from flax fibers that stave off pesky mold.

The bread bag is made for, well, holding bread, but it also doubles as a chic and sustainable lunch bag available in a natural linen color or blue-and-white stripe. The produce bag is designed for keeping fruits and vegetables ripe for longer due to the natural antibacterial properties. Plus, 40% of the profits from the linen produce bags go toward regenerative farms in the Philadelphia area.

Bento&co

When properly maintained, these toxin-free stainless-steel products can be used for years and years before being recycled, making them a much better option than their single-use plastic counterparts. A husband-and-wife team in Kyoto, Japan, started Bento&co from the living room in 2008, and the company is one of the premier bento box companies shipping around the globe.

Bento&co has a variety of unique products, including stainless-steel sandwich boxes with natural bamboo lids, round containers with sections for different ingredients and a lunchbox from the California-based company Eco Lunchbox. The company also sells beautifully woven, eco-friendly bamboo boxes made from Japanese bamboo by Miyabitake. Bonus: You can put down beeswax paper first to keep the bamboo clean.

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