As a baby boomer and grandmother, I’m keen to find ways in my kitchen to try to make up for the damage wrought by my generation and help keep the planet sustainable for my children and grandchildren.
As a former professional cook, I have the culinary tools to feed my growing family but am only now acquiring the knowledge to do so in a sustainable way by making small changes at minimal or no cost.
Using fewer resources in the kitchen can result in net gains. By choosing equipment carefully, recycling plastic and foil food wraps and being more mindful of power usage, it’s possible to save money and minimise one’s carbon footprint in the kitchen.
Assess what you have, borrow what you need
For anyone embarking on a more sustainable lifestyle, a kitchen sustainability audit is a way in. Go through your cupboards one by one and set aside anything you either don’t use or think might be better utilised by someone else.
If a full assessment is too daunting, begin with the gadget drawer and work from there. Keep anything you can’t live without and donate the rest to an opportunity shop. You’ll be doing the world (and yourself) a favour by recycling your unwanted utensils and freeing up space in your kitchen drawers.
The goal is to rid your kitchen of those celebrity cookbooks and expensive gadgets used once and forever relegated to the topmost shelf of the pantry.
The kitchen library movement has sprung up in an attempt to reduce consumption of specialised equipment – those dehydrators, breadmakers, ice-cream churners and sous vide cookers we thought we couldn’t live without. Now it’s possible to try before you buy, or just borrow as the need arises.
In Melbourne, Elwood’s Kitchen Library has an extensive catalogue of as-new cookbooks and culinary equipment to choose from, including a range of zero-waste children’s party packs with a selection of themes from dinosaurs to hungry caterpillars.
A shared love of food and the environment prompted its founder, Karen Elsbury, to connect with her council and the local neighbourhood centre to set up the volunteer-run organisation offering mostly pre-loved kitchen items in excellent condition.
“The kitchen library concept operates according to principles of the circular economy,” Elsbury says. “We reduce waste through sharing our resources, and by maintaining our products, we prolong their lifespan. Every item is tested and tagged every three months.” Not every library is so well equipped, but it’s worth checking public libraries and community resources in your area.
The Party Kit Network, a worldwide phenomenon created to combat the climate crisis and bring back the concept of sharing, recycles children’s party supplies.
What to look for when investing in new pots and pans
If you want to start buying more sustainable kitchenware, give some thought to the materials used in production. Non-plastic options are a great place to start if you want to avoid the possibility of ingesting toxic chemicals like BPA and Pfas, which are used in the manufacture of some plastics.
When choosing food storage containers, look out for glass or Tritan, a durable, BPA-free copolyester that is also used to make see-through saucepan lids.
Some plastics and non-stick surfaces contain Pfas (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), sometimes referred to as “forever chemicals” because they are slow to break down and persist in the environment for extended periods – although the long term health effects remain uncertain.
Alternatives include products made from stainless steel, cast iron, copper and recycled aluminium.
Some cookware companies use a non-stick ceramic coating. Although more expensive to produce and faster to lose non-stick properties – and there are questions about the materials used – it is a popular alternative.
Silicone is often thought of as a plastic but its composition and characteristics are very different. Widely used in cookware due to its stability at exceptionally high temperatures, it’s more durable, dishwasher friendly and less likely to react with food than plastic. It contains neither BPA nor Pfas. All these qualities make it a more desirable cookware material.
Silicone is not biodegradable but its durability reduces the need to replace it with the same frequency as plastic products. It can’t be recycled in the kerbside bin, but some companies offer specialised take-back programs for silicone products.
Sophie Kovic, the founder of Australian kitchenware brand Seed & Sprout, advises caution when buying products that come into contact with food. She recommends seeking out products with a minimum of “LFGB” certification, a German legal framework governing food and consumer goods safety.
“Look out for cheap, undisclosed materials in your products,” she says.
For those at the start of their kitchen sustainability journey, this degree of rigour may be daunting. If your budget extends to the occasional splurge, there are local brands making solid timber spoons and spatulas crafted from a single piece of timber with only a light brush of oil to coat and preserve them.
Consider replacing your warped plastic chopping boards with solid timber boards – it is possible to buy oiled Australian-made boards hewn from a single piece of timber – or a recycled woodchip board. Made from a combination of compressed woodchips and resin, these boards are incredibly durable but are not as eco-friendly as the pure timber versions. High-quality woodchip boards are more sustainable than plastic boards and won’t shed microplastics, nor will they convert to landfill within a couple of years. Look for five-year, 10-year or lifetime warranties. Some companies may include optional service and repair of older equipment, which can extend shelf life even further.
Washing up
Modern energy-efficient dishwashers use only a fraction of the water of handwashing in their eco-cycles, and non-toxic plastic-free dishwashing tablets are better for the environment.
Dishwash soap bars for handwashing are a low-impact option that come without packaging, and there are a range of dishwashing brushes to choose from made from recycled or natural products, such as plant fibres.
Compostable sponges and long-lasting knitted cotton dishcloths are available for those with commitment and deep pockets. Look out for the homemade versions at craft stalls or whip them up yourself using 100% cotton jumpers destined for the donation bin.
My conversion to eco-grandmother has been slow. Constant bombardment by catastrophic predictions can leave us feeling powerless. But if one small spark – a news grab, a new grandchild – can lead us to make one small change, we have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
