Aaaaargh I just wrote my whole blog and then somehow wiped it by mistake. So lets start all over again, I was going to tell you about alternatives to plastic for picnics which seemed to be a nice summery thing to talk about. It is suggested in some quarters that too much plastic is not a good thing and some of the idea's are quite good I thought. I have added my own comments as well.
1. Plastic water bottles.
The Alternative: Stainless steel water bottles. A flask would keep cold drinks cold.
2. Plastic drinking straws.
The Alternative: Danny Seo offers an interesting idea for alternatives to throw-away drinking straws in his book Simply Green Parties.
He suggests you use Twizzler candy–long strands of licorice that are
hollow inside–as straws by snipping the ends. You can serve them in
glasses, and kids can drink their beverages and then eat the straw! This sounds nice I love licorice!
3. Plastic plates.
The Alternative: Stainless steel plates, wooden plates, paper plates
(which are better for health than plastic but wasteful of trees unless
they are made from 100 percent post-consumer recycled content).
4. Plastic cups.
The Alternative: Stainless steel cups, paper cups (see about paper plates, above).Why not the 'I am not a paper cup' alternatives that we talked about a few days ago?
5. Plastic utensils.
The Alternative: Metal utensils.
6. Plastic table cloth.
The Alternative: Cloth tablecloth. Do you really need a tablecloth anyway?
7. Plastic wrap on food.
The Alternative: Wax paper, cellophane.Interior bags in cereal packets are great for sandwiches.
8. Plastic beach ball.
The Alternative: Leather ball. A bit painful if it hits you though!
9. Plastic kite.
The Alternative: Paper kite.
Anything here take your fancy as an idea or are you resolved to carry on as usual? Whatever you decide here's to some great Summer picnics with lots of sunshine. Here in Scotland the kids have broken up from school already so lets hope we get some nice weather.
Linda