I quit cling film food wrap cold turkey. When the last roll ran out months ago I did not buy more and I will not be buying more in the future unless the companies get with the program and produce bio degradable food wraps. Even then, I think I’m settled in with my solutions so why waste money?
I also haven’t bought paper towels in about 20 years. It was just one of those things that seemed like such a huge waste of money for me and a waste of natural resources for the world.
And when I stopped buying these things did my world come crashing to a halt? No. I just kept on going like I always do and I adapted. Humans are very capable of adapting to many different things as proven by evolution. So we can adapt to creating less waste just as well.
How do I clean my house without paper towels? I use reusable cloths. I clean both bathrooms in the same time slot and wash all the cloths immediately afterwards on their own load and all is well. I try to get the dusting and floor mopping done too if I can and those cloths go in the same wash load as well.
How do I store my food without cling film? In Tupperware containers. Yes, they are plastic but I’ve had them for over twenty years and probably will have them for twenty more. And if they do break they are more easily recycled than cling film plastic.
Sometimes though, you do want to just quickly wrap something up and that’s where the beeswax food wraps come in.
My son and I spent an enjoyable afternoon in July making beeswax food wraps. He just wandered into the kitchen, saw what I was doing and jumped in to help. We used 10 fat quarters and made many wraps in several sizes. It was a great mother/son afternoon and we are proud of our work. We made way more than we needed so we sent some to family members. (Handmade gift idea for you!)
I used a Martha Steward scalloped rotary cutter to cut the edges. You can also use pinking shears. I used locally sourced beeswax from Beary Berry Honey in Alberta. We grated the beeswax on a cheese grater and sprinkled it over the pieces of fabric on a cookie sheet and then melted the wax in the oven.
I used this YouTube tutorial for my wraps:
This was a helpful video and works well for personal use. If you wish to sell your wraps (and for future wraps that I make) I suggest this blog post and recipe that I found on Google.
I also found this post very interesting reading on this topic as well. She goes through her experiences with trying several different methods of food wraps.
My advice:
All that being said, this does make quite a mess in your kitchen. (At least the method I used did – see YouTube video above.) And it is difficult to clean up beeswax. Plus, once it’s melted it can splatter and get everywhere. Wear old clothes because it doesn’t just wash out. Use kitchen tools you have designated specifically for this task if you intend to do it often. We still have some beeswax on our cheese grater almost a month later and I’m not even bothering to try to get it off the cookie sheet which is now designated to craft projects.
Our wraps are working well for us and when they no longer work (in three to six months) they can be put in the compost as they are biodegradable.
Originally I thought I would add these as a product in my Environmentally Friendly Section but I think you really need a designated work area for these and I don’t have room or time for that. I will leave it to the makers who are making these exclusively to supply all the wonderful people who care about reducing plastic waste. I found Goldilocks Wraps and plan to order from then when my wraps get worn out.
So have fun making if you make them and if not please order some and support other makers and our planet. Definitely quit the plastic wrap addiction. It’s not as hard as you might think.