You can still get your lunches made just right and do it in an environmentally friendly way. The first thing you will need to do is make sure you arm your pantry with the right tools to get through the year. Here are a few tips that can help you pack a plastic bag-free lunch for your student.

Get reusable lunch bags! There are also many reusable snack containers that can be reused all year long. We at reusethisbag.com sell a customizable insulated lunch bag that’s a hit with the ‘pack your own lunch’ crowd.

Some more tips for make lunches completely plastic free:

Opt for natural wax paper to wrap your sandwiches in, if you don’t want to use reusable containers. Most health food stores offer natural wax paper, which is biodegradable and can be put into the recycling bin after each use.

Skip purchasing single serve items, like applesauce and other fruit cups, opting instead for larger jars. This will help you avoid using plastic, as you put single servings in reusable containers each day.

Send real utensils in lunches, rather than plastic disposables. If you don’t trust sending your good silverware, pick up a couple of forks and spoons at the store or thrift store that can be used just to be packed in lunches.

These tips work for the adult lunch as well as for your child’s lunch. As people learn more about the unhealthy effects that plastics have on our health and environment, they are searching for ways to reduce their use of it. Since you may be making school lunches for 185 days or more this school year, you can save a lot of plastic by opting for more environmentally friendly options.

It’s an issue that has been brewing for quite some time. Now the state of California is taking things to the next level, as Assembly Bill 1998 works it’s way through the state legislature. The bill, if passed, would enact a partial ban on the use of plastic bags in the state of California at supermarkets and other retailers. But the movement toward getting people to switch to reusable bags and ditch the plastic bags has not come without a fight.

While millions of people are hoping that the bag ban takes effect, many others have fought against it, not least because those who make all those plastic bags each year will lose money if the bill is enacted. Others who have publicly opposed banning the plastic bag have cited such reasons as a concern that reusable bags may carry germs, since people may not take the time to properly wash them.

As California pushes on toward banning plastic bags, including recently gaining the support of the Governor, many facts regarding plastic bag use have come to the forefront. In California alone, roughly 19 billion plastic bags are used per year, and that averages out to about 600 bags annually for every person in the state. All those bags add up to approximately 147,000 tons of waste each year. Furthermore, the state spends some $25 million per year to clean up the waste from all these bags, which frequently end up clogging the waterways.

If AB 1998 passes, the bags that are still permitted may have a nickel tax imposed upon them. But when you consider the environmental damage related to the use of plastic bags, the money raised by that new tax would be a drop in the bucket. It takes a tremendous amount of oil to produce and ship plastic bags, and far too many end up harming the environment, often making their way into the oceans, where they contribute to immense garbage patches. Such bags have even been blamed for killing sea turtles.

As the state moves closer to a plastic bag ban, there is no doubt that other states will end up following suit. The sooner we all take reusable bags by the handle and get busy using them, the better. And, to avoid any germ-related risks associated with them, simply make them a regular part of your wash-day routine.

Helpful Links:

Mercury News: Plastic bag fee is a tax you don’t have to pay.

California legislature looks to ban the bag.

A growing part of our business, we now have a dedicated page for reusable wine totes, if you buy and drink wine, it is a must have on your eco-responsibility checklist!  Unfortunately, the packaging and transport of wine bottle generates a lot of waste.  If it is not the cardboard box, it’s the combo of a doubled up plastic bag with each wine bottle in it’s own paper sleeve.  A reusable wine bag does away with all that waste, segmenting each bottle from each other.

We have done some cool custom imprinted wine bags for eco responsible wineries that they use instead of that cardboard box.  What a great way to go green!

Get some wine tote bags – they’re cheap and easy to store – and the next time you stock up on your favorite vintages you’ll have an easy and environmentally safe way to carry them home.

And don’t forget to spread the word after uncorking a bottle with your friends and family.

To me, there can only be 1 culprit can be behind it. That culprit would be the makers of the plastic bags themselves! I mean really, bringing your own bags to the market can now make you die! Ecoli virus among countless others!!!
Well, I tell you what……I myself have been using my own reusable bags going on my 5th year.  In all my carries,  eggs, poultry, vegetables, and anything else i may buy I have never, not once, even had a spill of any considerable size in one of my reusable bags!   If i did, I would simply take out the bottom plastic insert and wipe free any “contaminates” that may be there and we would then be free and clear of the problem.  If it were that bad, i would wash my washable reusable bag in cold water and line dry. 

Problem fixed.

It is clear to me that the makers of the plastic bags are acting purely from greed and cash money is their objective.  They do not care that coral reefs are dying by plastic bag strangle hold.  They do not care that the los Angeles River looks like the trash dump from the original movie Star Wars!  They don’t care that  plastic bags waive from trees in Central park like Christmas ornaments, they do not care that CA spends $30,000,000 dollars per year on trying to contain their plastic disaster and barely scrapes the top of it.

plastic bags have a strangle hold on our seas!

The bottom line is that plastic bags are one of our great plagues in the world and slowly but surely people are being made aware of it.  As rap group “Public Enemy” once said, “Don’t Belive the Hype!”  Its propaganda, and it simply isnt true.

If the plastic bag manufacturers had any real amo they would be showing us all the bacteria and sickness’s that have arose from places like Ireland and Austrailia who are bothworking on 10 years free of plastic bags.  If there were any truth in any of this they would maybe start there.

Bottom line, plastic bags hurt the Earth, stay strong, keep bringing your reusable bags, and dont believe the Hype!  It simply isnt true!

This move now puts the city of Santa Barbara on the top shelf with cities like Malibu and San Francisco and moves them up to Elite status in our eyes!

What cities are next?  Is anyone out there talking about it?  Thinking about it?  We would like to hear your thoughts?

 It is our hope that the rest of the country will follow suit and do the same within the next 5 years!

A bill being considered by the California State Assembly THIS Friday would enact a statewide ban on single-use bags at grocery stores! Click here to see the story by KPBS !

Reuseable Lunch bags are a huge hit!

 to the mall. But, being corporate slaves as most of us are its equally important to bring your own reuseable lunch bag as well!  That would save 260 paper and plastic bags per year if you were bringing your lunch with you to work every day!   Ask us about our new reuseable lunch bags!   We can help!

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Approximately 2,278 lbs of trash is produced while producing a single ton of receipt paper. This means 1,457,920,000 lbs of trash are being fed into our landfill. This produces enough CO2 emissions to significantly damage the earth’s ozone layer, leading to global warming.

What are your thoughts?