This is part of the Mommy Go Green Blog Tour.

Personally, I work at home.  When I am hungry I go to the kitchen and find something to eat. This is all well and good for me, but it wasn’t always like this as it isn’t for many of you.  You pack up your lunch and take it with you, right?

Well, today I bring you a great alternative for your lunch packaging. No more plastic containers which may or may not be safe, no more wasteful sandwich bags or foil. LunchBots provide a safe, 100% stainless steel, waste-free lunch alternative.

About LunchBots (from the site):

Stainless steel is one of the safest materials for food storage and handling. It is an alloy made from natural elements: iron ore, chromium, silicon, nickel, carbon, nitrogen, and manganese. The final metal has differing properties depending on varying amounts of these elements.

LunchBots are manufactured from high-quality, food grade Type 304 stainless steel. Stainless steel has great resistance to stain or rust due to its chromium content making it the material of choice for food processing, dairy and brewing. Stainless steel is easy to clean, durable, and sanitary.

The only thing I question are peoples’ commitment to a waste-free lunch. Obviously, these cannot go in the microwave at work so please be sure to have a reusable plate and utensils at work for the days you bring a lunch that needs heating up!

These are very attractive, they’ve been tested, they clean up nicely, no worries about stains or leeching of chemicals from plastic. What more could you ask for? How about FREE shipping? For an unlimited time use this code for FREE shipping (U.S. Only): FREESHIP09

Be sure to check out my first post on 5 Minutes for Going Green and let me know what you think!

All the best,
Jen

Post from: Eco-Office Gals

Eco-Options: Lunch

Dear EarthTalk: It seems like more products are being packaged in #5 rather than #2 plastic today, and my local recycling agency won’t take #5. I’ve also heard that #5 plastics are more toxic, which concerns me more than the recyclability issue. Which plastic is the better choice?

– Janice Shaffer, Chillicothe, MO

Polypropylene, which is marked with #5 inside the “chasing arrows” symbols on the bottom of plastic containers, is a lighter-weight plastic resin commonly used in dairy and deli packaging. Some companies have chosen this lighter plastic because it has a lower environmental impact to produce and transport.

High density polyethylene (HDPE), which is marked with #2, is a stiffer resin used to package cleaning products and also some dairy products. The most widely used resin type for consumer food products is polyethylene terephthalate, or PETE, which is marked with #1 and used for soda and water bottles.

According to Consumers Union’s “Greener Choices” website, all three of these plastics are considered safe for their original use, though any of them can leak toxins when reused repeatedly. And all three can be recycled, though a lagging market leads some recycling locations to limit what they’ll accept. There is also concern that widespread plastics recycling encourages more use of plastics, and that efforts would be better spent getting consumers to buy fewer plastic-encased products. Some even criticize the chasing-arrow labeling system for implying a higher level of recyclability than is presently available.

Why is a lighter-weight plastic better? According to dairy company Stonyfield Farm, their #5 one-quart yogurt container uses 30 percent less plastic than a #2 cup. Since it takes less material to make a thinner container, it reduces the amount of resin that needs to be manufactured. Stonyfield estimates that the use of #5 over #2 prevents the manufacture and disposal of more than 100 tons of plastic per year.

But savings comes from more than manufacturing. The heavier #2 plastics require more energy to transport. It’s not only getting the yogurt from Stonyfield’s plants to your store, but also getting the containers from the plastics manufacturer to their dairies. In fact, the company cites a packaging study by the Boston-based Tellus Institute which found that 95 percent of the environmental costs of packaging lie in production and less than five percent are associated with disposal.

According to the website Earth 911, a national directory of recycling outlets, the best thing consumers can do is to choose items with less packaging and buy in bulk when possible. So the next time you reach into the dairy case, grab the quart or gallon-size yogurt instead of the single-serving cups. Then, make sure you recycle only the allowable plastics so you don’t contaminate the lot. While recycling is important, it may be okay to landfill a product’s packaging if it was created with an environmentally responsible plan.

Besides seeking alternatives to plastic packaging, consumers can affect overall plastic use by supporting legislation that would require manufacturers to take back their plastic packaging, which would encourage “cradle-to-grave” practices. Further, you can support legislation that mandates more use of recycled plastic content, which would reduce the overall amount of virgin plastic produced in the first place.

CONTACTS: Stonyfield Farm’s Earth Actions, Consumer Reports’ Greener Choices, Earth 911.

GOT AN ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTION? Send it to: EarthTalk, c/o E/The Environmental Magazine, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; submit it at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/thisweek/, or e-mail: earthtalk@emagazine.com. Read past columns at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/archives.php.

bitzcelt, courtesy Flickr

Post from: Eco-Office Gals

Is #5 plastic safe?