WAExpo have entered a boat in this year’s Bristol Dragon Boat Festival on Sunday 18th June to help raise funds for local Bristol charities. As many people head down to the harbourside with a picnic in tow to sit beside the water eating, drinking and watching the races, we thought we would ask Jyoti from Eqo Living to give us her top tips on keeping your picnic waste-free….. `
With the picnic season upon us we’re looking for any excuse to take our lunch and eat it al fresco, but before you run to the shops and pile all sorts of goodies into your picnic hamper take a moment to consider the amount of waste your picnic might produce. At this time of year, more people are partying and entertaining outside, and with that comes so much pre-packaged convenience foods to make life easier for you.
Wouldn’t you rather enjoy home-cooked food at your picnic, feeling pleased with yourself that you have left absolutely no waste at the end of it? Well we would, so we’ve come up with some tips for keeping your picnic (and any outdoor entertaining occasion) waste-free.
- Organise a Pot Luck with friends. A Pot Luck is a great way of enjoying a delicious meal with a number of people. The idea is that everyone brings something different, and then you all share it together. Eating this way makes life so much easier as you often only have to prepare one or two things to share.
- Shop Package Free. If you are new to this idea of shopping without any plastic packaging, you may think it’s impossible, but believe me there are always alternatives! Buy all your fruit and veg loose, visit cheese, meat and deli counters with your own containers and favour glass bottles over plastic. You’ll find it’s easier than you think….
- Make Your Own Food. As mentioned above, if you’re organising a pot luck, this shouldn’t be too time consuming and some great ideas for picnic food are quiche, potato salad, tabouleh, bean salad, dips… in fact anything that can be transported is great for a picnic!
- Use reusable containers. Pack all your delicious home cooked food into reusable containers which can be washed and used again.
- Take real cutlery. Throwaway plastic cutlery is completely unnecessary, the energy and resources that go into making something that we use for 5 minutes and then throwaway without a second thought is having a huge negative impact on our planet. Take your own set of stainless steel or bamboo reusable cutlery!
- Use reusable straws. Plastic straws are not recyclable and only end up in landfill, or in our oceans. Using a reusable stainless steel, glass or bamboo straw means you can avoid single use plastic, and they look much nicer too!
- Use cloth napkins; in fact it doesn’t even need to be napkins if you don’t have them. A tea towel will do!
- Use reusable drink bottles and avoid drinks in plastic bottles. Water from a glass or stainless steel water bottle retains its fresh taste, and if it’s a cuppa you’re after then use an insulated bottle to ensure your tea is still hot at lunchtime.
- Reinvent leftovers. I’m sure with all the yummy food that everyone brought along to the picnic, you won’t have any leftovers but if you do then save them for the next day and reinvent them in the next meal.
Eqo Living have created a handy infographic to remind you of how to keep your picnic waste free. We hope to see you down on the harbourside with your waste free picnic on Sunday 18th June!
Why not join WAExpo on Sunday and enjoy a little adventure! No experience is necessary to paddle and all fitness levels are welcome! It’s all about having fun and trying something new, the festival is a great family day out, so bring your husbands/partners/children too - all are welcome.
