During the Christmas season we use 138,000 tons of plastic w rap!  Can you imagine?  That’s the weight of 138,000 cars!  H   ere are some easy ways to cut back on plastics of all kinds when  estivities. 

1.  Use re-useable items (cloth napkins, real silverware, glass glasses, etc.) whenever possible  and no paper plates allowed!  Don’t get rid of serving pieces just because they are plastic. The idea here is to reuse, reuse, reuse instead of replace.
2.  When deciding what to serve consider making more dishes from scratch. You’ll already have some of the ingredients and those you don’t have are more likely to come in less plastic packaging than prepackaged prepared foods.
3. Plan ahead when you shop to buy foods with no plastic packaging.
   • Take your own cloth bags for produce to avoid having to use the plastic ones.\
   • Buy meat from the butcher and take in your own containers, 
   • if possible,take your own reusable containers, too, for grains, nuts, spices, and other bulk items.
   • Try to buy items without screwcaps or bottle tops, which normally contain an inner plastic seal.
   • Buy bigger bags of things like chips and nuts, and packages that don’t contain several smaller plastic wrapped packages.
   • Go to the bakery for breads not wrapped in plastic and then keep them fresh by wrapping them in fabric.
   • And, of course, don’t forget to take in your own bags for bagging your groceries  
4. Before the party set up garbage stations so your guests can easily recycle and compost those items that belong in each type of waste container. Make sure to recycle all and only the plastic containers approved by your waste company, but before you recycle consider, too, how something might be reused.
5. Serve beverages like cocoa or festive warm cranberry cider instead of providing soda in large plastic bottles. Buy wine bottles with corks as these are made from entirely sustainable materials and no trees are cut down to produce them. Buy beer cans in boxes to avoid 6-pack plastic rings. Also, skip tea, unless it is made from loose tea bought in bulk Most tea bags have polypropylene (a type of plastic) inside them to stop them from falling apart, while others come with plastic packaging around a cardboard box.
6.  After the party use reusable wax wraps instead of plastic wrap and reuse plastic containers rather than buying new plastic tub for dealing with leftovers. 
   
7. And when its time for washing up, use reusable dishcloths instead of sponges, which may be made out of plastics and come wrapped in plastic.  Check out dish soaps such as these which contain no plastics and are not sold in plastic containers.  Another option is to refill your dish soap container by buying in bulk on line from a refill store like this with organic and recyclable packagin.  And, if you can’t part with your favorite dish soap, you can still cut back on plastic. Just dilute your soap to get more washes out of every bottle. Simply mix with  water in a 1:1 ratio. This thinner solution cleans just as well as the concentrate, and you’ll bring home half as many plastic soap containers.

So bon appetit!  Enjoy all your holiday meals and entertaining the no-plastic way!