Here's a green tip for holiday weekend picnics and gatherings: instead of paper or foam disposable tableware, consider using plates made from biodegradeable materials: bamboo or bagasse (sugar cane fiber).
Bambu makes their sturdy plates and dining utensils from veneer of sustainably grown bamboo. These disposables are free of dyes and bleaches and are both more expensive and much nicer looking than their paper counterparts. You may be tempted to wash and re-use, but they are indeed designed for single use.
Bagasse doesn't have the same great looks, but plates made from this stuff are cheaper and microwaveable.
Bambu Veneerware: A set of 8 plates ranges from $6-$14, depending on size, at SF's Branch. Utensils are also available, though often out of stock.
(The Bambu line is also available at Cole Hardware's four stores.)
Bagasse Tableware These come in packs of 25 and range from $4 - $5.50/pack, depending on size, at Branch. Utensils, cups, and serving pieces are also available.
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Comments (5)
Consumer Reports panned the Bambu plates bigtime when they reviewed them a few months back. They're expensive and they let grease leak thru. They do look nice, tho. I'd probably buy paper and donate the savings to Greenpeace . . .
Whole Foods carries the Bambu plates in Santa Monica. Don't know about SFO. I've never seen the utensils - they might be a better bet if you're trying to avoid plastic.
Also, unless you have a compost heap or a plan to bury them in your backyard, it's all going into a plastic sack and a landfill anyway. Come on!
Better to buy the 50 cent Ikea plates and bowls, and either keep them with plans to entertain frequently and loan out to friends or donate them to a thrift store afterwards.
Bi-Rite market has been using biodegradable containers for their pre-packaged foods recently. I believe the packaging is corn-based. I don't know that they're necessarily more environmentally sound than the Bambu products (which apparently do biodegrade) but I think they're likely less expensive.
Click on my name to check it out.
Does anything actually degrade in a landfill, though? My guess is once that stuff is buried it won't break down for centuries.
Cheap washable plastic stuff is probably your best bet from an environmental standpoint, if you've got the room to store it.
Sunspot and Atomic hit the nail on the head. One of the biggest problems with burying anything in a landfill, biodegradeable or not, is that the underground enviornment in a landfill has very little oxygen. The result is that all the natural processes that break down matter in the soil in nature are absent. You'd be surprised at how pristine stuff is that is in a landfill. (Great for alien archeologists a million years from now.)
While the paper is better than styrofoam, the far greener solution is buying cheap hard plastic plates and washing them in natural soap like Dr. Bronner's.