Following on from yesterday’s lunch box post, I thought we might have a week of lunch themed items because a) I love lunch, mmm, lunch and b) it is often a lot more wasteful than most meals because most people tend to be away from home, with limited catering facilities and so are more likely to resort to pre-packed snacks.

To save money and to avoid packing landfills with even more plastic sandwich packs, people are encouraged to take their own packed lunches with them to work – but without a bit of pre-planning, that can easily lead to a lot of packaging waste – plastic bags, cling film/saran wrap, foil — and that’s before starting on any specially bought single serving items.

There are a number of different bento box style lunchboxes on the market – a set of reusable containers which fit neatly inside a carry case – perfect for snack-size portions of different items. If you’ve already got a stash of small plastic tubs (either purpose-built or reusing resealable packaging), you can use these as inspiration to make your own bag. Perhaps even one that can fit onto your bike…

If your lunch isn’t quite so complicated, a reusable sandwich wrap/bag might be enough – Julie from Towards Sustainability has been experimenting with making a reusable lunch bag for her daughter.

What have you done to cut down packed lunch waste? Have you made your own sandwich bag/wrap or lunch box? Do you regularly reuse packaging from other food items — like bread bags?

What do you do for drinks? Have you bought a purpose-built water bottle or do you reuse an old bottle instead?

We’ve had an email from Sarah C:

My kids always need new lunchboxes, what can I do with the old ones?

The hard plastic square ones I used to have when I was little were good kid-size storage boxes so maybe encourage them to use their previous year’s boxes as storage – for pens, letters & birthday cards, small toys – in their bedrooms. If they’re a bit scruffy, they can probably be recovered or painted, and you could make old fashioned suitcase straps & buckles if the plastic catch has broken.

Insulated cooler bags seem to be more common that those though now and from what I’ve read Googling around, they don’t seem to last as long as the hard plastic ones – not so easy to keep them clean. The material could be used to make coffee cup/beer can sleeves – or insulating pipes around the home where space is too tight for expanded foam.

Any other suggestions?

We’ve had an email from Katharyn:

Can you tell me what alternatives I have to plastic milk bottles from the supermarket? I tried to get a milkman to deliver but they told me I don’t get through enough milk to warrant them adding me to the route but I seem to generate lots of empty milk bottles! I can recycle them at the supermarket but I would rather not use them in the first place.

I think the milkman – with their reusable glass bottles – is probably the best route here to go down here – such a shame they won’t deliver. How about talking to your neighbours to see if you can up the order?

Some local wholefood stores also stock milk in glass bottles – talk to them about whether you can return the bottles for reusing or whether they should be recycled with other glass bottles.

If you have to keep using your supermarket, buying in bulk would reduce the amount of plastic used per pint but then you’d have a lot of milk to get through. Milk can be frozen but it can be a little separated on thawing – perfectly fine for cooking with but a little less palatable on your cereal. Any advice on freezing milk?

Any other suggestions?

We’ve had an email from Kenny that I’m sure some of you will be able to help with:

I teach art in Glasgow and I’m trying to find some way of punching disc of various diameters (eg.10mm 15mm 22mm 30mm) out of recycled plastic, fabric, paper etc. to make jewellery. Any suggestions?

The ring-binder size metal ones, like one in the picture, work fine for small circles, but only small discs about 5mm in diameter. I tried using fancier shaped/bigger hole punches with thin plastic but because the ones I had were designed for thick paper/card, the plastic kept gumming them up. Alison Bailey Smith has more luck than me with that sort of thing though and recommends a particular brand of hole punch – X Cut.

Are there any alternatives to using punches? What are the options for bigger circles? Anything quicker/more accurate than just cutting them out with scissors?

Punching holes in fabric other than felt (and the like) may cause a fraying problem, which might ruin/reduce the lifespan of the garment. Any ways around that or other advice?

We’ve had an email from Sara:

Hi. I saw everyone’s great ideas about bread bags the other week but we don’t get sliced bread, we get baguettes and the stuff baked in the shop which come in film rather than plastic bread bags. Can that be recycled too?

Ooh, good question. I’m not 100% sure what type of plastic that is – I’ve sent emails to a couple of supermarkets to see if they know so can advise further. It’s maybe cellophane – and if it is, it’s biodegradable. Anyone know?

As for reuses though, it’s not as smooth and, for what of a better word, floppy as the LDPE/number 4 plastic used for pre-packed bread – but because of that, it would be better to use as a lightweight packaging material (it would scrunch, not crush flat). It’s not as pretty as the plastic wrap used on bouquets but there might be some overlap in the reuses.

Any other suggestions?