Ideal Bite

Wanna picnic while the night sky explodes?

Submitted by tmeronek on Mon, 07/02/2007 - 1:01am.

The Bite:

Fuse together a little green with your red, white, and blue, and have a blast. While we can't make those explosions eco, the Fourth is a great time to celebrate your independence from eco-unfriendly picnicware.

The Benefits:

Cutting trash while saving cash. Reusable picnicware leads to smaller landfills and less money spent on disposables.
Tree savings. If each U.S. household replaces one 40-count package of conventional paper plates with 100% recycled ones, we'll save 487,000 trees.
Fair wages. Fair-trade picnic supplies are made by workers who earn a living wage.

Personally Speaking:

We use Preserve utensils in the office, even though we have to wash them in the bathroom sink. A few have recently gone missing, though, and we suspect one of us is pilfering them for their own Fourth picnic...

Wanna Try:

Recycline Preserve Tableware - bright-colored 100% recycled and dishwasher-safe plastic plates, tumblers, and utensils ($6-$18).
Ten Thousand Villages Lidded Picnic Basket - fair-trade bamboo basket opens on both ends and has two interior compartments ($44).
To-Go Ware Action Pack - comes with a stainless steel food carrier and fair-trade, lightweight bamboo cutlery ($32).
Abundant Earth Multi-Striped Colorgrown Tablecloth - organic cotton table cloth, colored without dyes ($29).
Wrap-N-Mat - washable, reusable sandwich wrap and place mat that replaces plastic baggies ($7).

Carin Apperson