Thursday, August 14, 2008

more about packaging

One great thing about living in Asheville is that I'm always finding something new related to sustainability/green-living. Lately, it's been the surge of green-packaging products I've been discovering throughout many Asheville restaurants and coffee shops.

I've always loved that most places in Asheville will give you the option on how you want things packaged. Don't want a plastic bag? Ok, we won't give you one. Work nearby and don't want to use styrofoam to carry your bagel? Ok, you can take the plate, but please bring it back afterwards. But now I've been seeing places use recyclable boxes and biodegradable cups for their carryout containers.

My favorite coffee shop and bookstore by far, Malaprops, uses biodegradeable and recyclable cups for their iced and cold beverages. Two of my new favorite places to eat in downtown are Chorizo and this cute soda fountain in the Woolworth Walk gallery. Having eaten at both of these places recently and taken left-overs/to-go boxes, I discovered that both restos use 100% post-consumer and recyclable boxes. I looked into this, I found out the boxes are made by fold-pak and the biodegradable cups are made by fabri-kal.

So the next time you go to a restaurant see what kind of products they use. You could even suggest to them to carry these products. Or, if you're even more hard-core about saving the environment, d-i-y initiatives and reusing, then you could bring you own tupperware/storage container to restaurants. It's something that I still haven't done, but would definitely like to start doing. :)
~Am~

1 comments:

Kimberly said...

Another great post, Am! I just wish we could clone Asheville's enthusiasm and dedication.

It's nice to see that places are finally getting the message that consumers are serious about being green. I had to go to Target tonight and was surprised that they are now giving a $.05 discount for every cloth/reusuable bag you bring. So maybe even the big corporations are starting to take notice...

One of the things I try to do when we have leftovers/take away from a restaurant is ask them to package in foil instead of the plastic or styrofoam containers. I can always rinse off the foil and reuse. Just a thought...

Take care! xx Kimberly

Blog Widget by LinkWithin