Party Time!

I know, I know....Being green is about living simply and not buying more stuff like the media would lead you to believe. But sometimes a Gruppie just has to make a purchase in the name of green.

With the fabulous social life my family leads, there seems to be a lot of plastic cutlery involved. Summer beach cook-outs. Cape Cod street parties. Backyard birthday parties...I could go on, but I don't want to make you insanely jealous.

What do all of these celebrations have in common? Trash! Plastic junk that will be on this earth for lifetimes. Plastic plants spewing toxic air for innocent residents to breathe. And can someone tell me why those plastic forks snap every time you need to actually cut something?

Here is my solution...

Aren't They Cute?

To-Go Ware was founded by a US woman in order to create a fair income for women on the Thai-Burma border. A happy addition to that fact is that these creative women are using tons of plastic that would otherwise be relegated to landfills or the ocean to create the pouches. The company's tag line reads, "turning one persons trash into another person's livelihood." Beautiful.

Each rolled pouch is made of old plastic bags and newspapers. Inside, the bamboo cutlery sits comfortably. Knife, fork, spoon and chopsticks. If your kids are anything like mine, the chopsticks will be perfect for spearing watermelon from the fruit bowl, marshmallows from the bag and sometimes for spearing each other.

Did you know that Americans toss out enough plastic cutlery each year to circle the equator 300 times? That little fact certainly shocked me into awareness.

Next time you are at a party (where is my invite?) or enjoying some take-out ice cream, take a second to think about that plastic you may be holding in your hand. Once we use it, it's here forever.