Fighting Waste With . . . Waste?

By: Christopher Forestieri

In my house we try our best to eliminate waste. We recycle the things that we can put in our recycling box each week and, for example, avoid using paper towel when a cloth rag will do. But, like most people, my girlfriend and I try above all to avoid wasting food and electricity and, in turn, money.

There are many ways households can utilize their energy and food (I wrote just last week about ways to save the former). But, upon opening a new box of Ziploc® bags one day, I noticed that I was fighting wasting food with, well—waste.

I’m not saying one should under no circumstances purchase Tupperware® containers or Ziploc® bags, but rather, one is best served to take a look around the kitchen before making that purchase.

First, there are many packaged and takeout food items come in some type of reusable container. I have noticed that every time I buy lunch meat, I get a free container that I would be hard pressed to tell from a Tupperware® brand container in a “blind” test. This is also true for takeout food.

Just the other day, I brought my lunch to work in a leftover container from a Chinese restaurant. My coworker, recognizing the container immediately, asked if I had brought in leftover Chinese. She said that she had accumulated a stack of the same containers (saving them ostensibly to recycle) but had never thought of using them to save or transport food with. Now she knows.

I have also found that many items, such as tortillas and shredded cheese, come in resalable bags. These can prove useful for saving a sandwich or brining it to lunch. Most resalable bags can be washed either by hand or in the dishwasher first and hold up just fine.

It is easy to develop the mentality that everything that we get our food in either goes in the trash or recycling box. But, if you can begin to look for reusable items that would otherwise be trashed, you may save yourself a couple bucks and do the planet a favor in the process.