OK, Plastic, It's A Wrap: Why We Don't Need
Plastic wrap is, quite frankly, a menace. It's a binding agent for urban tumbleweed. In its PVC form, it can leach its plasticizers (the toxic chemicals that make it stretchy) into food. These things are bad, but really, what about the waste? It's astonishingly wasteful. Even if we had a way of reusing it, it's nigh on impossible to unpick a ball of scrunched-up wrap.
If ever there was a product designed to promote the single-use consumer culture, it's plastic wrap. Luckily, there are alternatives - and all they require is a little mental readjustment.
You're looking at something called a Sandwich Wrap, from Ecosnackwrap. It's made of ethically manufactured cloth, and if you open it flat, you'll discover a square tablecloth with velcro patches. Place your sandwich (or other snack food) in the middle and fold it up to form an envelope, held together by the velcro strips. Hey presto, there's your lunch, ready to be taken elsewhere - with not a hint of plastic wrap anywhere.
Here's why this is a stroke of eco-friendly genius.
1. It's Washable. When lunch is over, bundle it into your bag, bring it home and throw it in with your next load of laundry. Loop closed.
2. It's Easy. Say goodbye to the two major annoyances of using plastic wrap - the picking with a fingernail to find the edge, and the moments where the wind catches your newly-unfurled strip and whips it into a tangled, sticky mess. Cloth sandwich wraps are a piece of cake, and can easily be adjusted to fit sandwiches, fruit, biscuits and, yes, pieces of cake.
3. It's Supremely Cost-effective. Buy once, use a bazillion times. Want to trim your household bills? Well then.
Here are a few other reusable snack bags you can find at Eco Market...
Top left - Cute Bug Design Lunchtime Bag Set; bottom left - Reusable Snack Bag; top bottom right - Reusable Sandwich Mats.