Happy Earth Day, everyone! Many of us do our best to live greener and wiser, especially for our children’s benefit. Aside from the ever-so-important 3Rs–Reduce, Reuse and Recycle–there are a host of ways families can help Planet Earth.
Year round, I try to feature sustainable products that would complement our lives, but for Earth Day, I thought I’d showcase some innovative green and eco-friendly items that I’ve dogeared just for this week.
In line with our family starting a new chapter in the suburbs, we’re implementing quite a few sustainable changes to our everyday way of life. The kitchen and the way we eat has been an ongoing process, but specifically, I’m hoping to phase out plastics in the kitchen as much as possible.
The kid’s tableware and cups have taken over their own shelf. I just noticed that more than half of the plates, cups, forks and spoons are plastic, which concerns me. They’re likely full of pthalates and other elements that we just need to avoid all together.
When I was at Toy Fair, I fell in love with Dandeloin products, including their Natural Tableware Products.
These bright yellow forks, spoons and knives stand out among the crowd of plastic kiddie-sized cutlery. Dandelion’s line of tableware are constructed of corn—as in, on- the-cob.
That’s right…corn.
I like corn as much as the next person, but I’m not a fan of all the food that’s being processed and engineered with corn.
Dandelion ReUsables tableware thrusts the use of corn into a new light. According to the company, Reducing our dependency on both petroleum-based plastics and disposable ware in general, is an essential step toward a healthier future for our families and our environment.
Dandelion uses a unique corn (PLA) formula. Unlike conventional plastic, which is largely made from petroleum, our bioplastic is primarily made from corn! Polylactic acid (PLA) requires significantly less fossil resources, and generates far fewer green house gases than conventional plastic. And corn is a renewable and sustainable resource.
Dandelion ReUsables is sustainability at its best. Before grabbing a package of those convenient plastic kiddie forks and spoons, consider all the resources it took to get them on the shelf. Dandelion ReUsables is a fantastic alternative to the conventional options out there. When we move, I hope to replenish our tableware supply and minimize the usage of plastic by going the corn route.
In addition to forks, knives and spoons, Dandelion also has bowls, plates and soon, sippy cups. Dandelion ReUsables can be found online and I even saw a link to them at Kmart online. They range in price, but it looks like they are in the $6-10 pricepoint.