Of all the common everyday plastic products made to be used once and then thrown away, plastic wrap is the most harmful. It clogs our landfills, oceans, and natural environment for decades after being discarded. Besides that, it’s also made from petroleum-based products, a manufacturing process that releases harmful by-products into the environment.
Nobody wants to unwrap their lunch to find their bread dry and stale. It’s a terrible waste for leftovers to dry out in the fridge. But it’s a mistake to think that cling wrap is irreplaceable.
That’s why I’ve rated some of my favorite eco-friendly food wraps as plastic wrap alternatives. These products keep your food as fresh as saran wrap, and they’re reusable, sustainable alternatives to plastic.
Bee's Wrap beeswax wraps have all of the benefits of other wraps, but for me, their variety of designs is what sets them apart from others. There are eight unique designs for you to choose from when you order online.
There is also a range of ordering options. Need a large roll? No problem. A variety three-pack? They’ve got you (and your food) covered.
When you compare the prices of their products with others, Bees Wrap compares very favorably to value for money. These beeswax wraps are locally made in Vermont from ethically sourced ingredients. They’re pretty, durable AND sustainable.
I really tried to find ONE thing that I couldn’t like about this beeswax wrap, and I just couldn’t. For me, this is my favorite eco-friendly food wrap of all that I’ve reviewed. From their customer experience on their website, to their design, to how effectively their wrap seals, this is precisely what I want from food wrap. I would recommend this to my friends and loved ones.
There’s so much to love about the 4MyEarth Food Bag. It ticks all the boxes. This reusable alternative to plastic seal bags is cute, sustainable, and versatile. It’s a breathable cotton canvas bag lined with an antibacterial biodegradable coating that keeps food fresh. The zipper seals the bag tightly so that you can use it as a lunch bag on the go or to store food in your fridge or your freezer. It’s easy to wash, and free of toxins like PVC, BPA and phthalate.
Oh, and personally I ADORE the ocean life design - although, if you feel differently you may wish there were other design options.
The Queen B Beeswax Assorted Wraps pack comes with three different sized wraps - medium, large and extra-large. I love how the bright warm colors stand out. They don’t feel like a uniform set that is cut to order because they’re handmade. The material it’s made from is pure cotton, while the sealant is comprised of Australian beeswax, organic coconut oil and tree resin.
The wraps are packaged and shipped in a 100% recycled card, and the window is pure cornstarch. The wraps themselves are also biodegradable - this is a product that ticks every sustainability box.
The Navega Beeswax Food Wrap lets you cut your wrap according to your needs. It comes in a 13” x 30” roll, much like a traditional wax wrap. This way, you don’t need to worry about whether your beeswax wrap is big enough or small enough to cover the food that you’re trying to preserve. A biodegradable, compostable solution to plastic wrap, it’s handmade with natural ingredients - organic cotton, beeswax, jojoba oil and tree resin. The result is an attractive, practical product that will replace the plastic wrap in your kitchen.
Washing it is pretty easy, too, just some cold water, mild soap, air dry it outside, and it’s good to go. Personally, I love the smell of beeswax products, but some people don’t want that scent to waft into their food. If that’s you, then this is the wax wrap you’ve been waiting for. The Navega beeswax food wrap is odorless so you won’t have to worry about the beeswax scent leaching into your food.
Unfortunately, compared to some of the other wraps I've tried it doesn't seal as well, which impacts how long it can keep perishables like bread and cheese.
What’s a furoshiki, you ask? It’s a traditional Japanese wrapping cloth for food storage. It’s great to wrap food for on-the-go. This ample 27,5” x 27,5” cloth alternative to plastic wrap doubles as a placemat or a versatile cloth. A furoshiki can be reused and washed again and again. It’s made of tough but soft two-layer 100% cotton.
I loved the reversible print, which is dark forest green on one side, and cream and beige spots on the other - this is a looker! It ships in a paper sleeve, and it’s a great idea as a gift wrapping for other sustainable items to your loved ones. I recommend practicing how to wrap carefully as if not done right, your food may perish quicker than you expect.
Instead of using the same old cotton bags or plastic snack boxes, give these reusable Beebagz. As the name says, it’s made from beeswax, as well as 100% cotton for strength, as well as jojoba oil and tree resin. 1% of the sales of these bags go to charity to combat the climate emergency.
You’ll get three bags, small: 6.5” x 4.5”, medium 8.5” x 6.5” and large 14” x 11” in an eye-catching green print design. These bags are compostable, so they won’t leave a legacy in a landfill or a chemical trail long after their usefulness at the end of their life. As with all beeswax products, washing and reusing are as easy as a hand wash in cool water with mild soap and hanging it out to dry. It will arrive at your door in a 100% recyclable cardboard box.
Absolutely, positively, a hard NO. Cling wrap is probably one of the least eco-friendly plastic products that are commonly used in households. It’s made from polyvinyl chlorides (PVC), a kind of plastic that makes it stretch and grip the surfaces of containers and itself. The manufacturing process of PVC releases a toxin called dioxin into the environment. PVC can leach chemicals into our food. Besides being a carcinogen, PVC plastic can take well over a thousand years to biodegrade, a process that bleeds contaminants into the environment.
Without a doubt, the answer is YES. Using the natural warmth of your hands, a beeswax food wrap will mold itself around the shape of any container and adhere to the surface of itself to seal in the freshness of your food. I mostly use them for storing food and as bowl covers. Best of all, it’s even more durable than plastic wrap so that it won’t tear in your lunch bag.
Yes, beeswax wraps are perfectly safe for use in the fridge or freezer, and the cold temperature won’t affect their adhesive properties. In the colder climate of your fridge or freezer, the beeswax wraps will become stiff and maintain the seal that you’ve shaped it into. Simply wrap and seal the food as per normal to create a tight seal, and it’s ready to be stored in your fridge or freezer.
Beeswax wraps last for between eight months to a year. The process of washing them and general use will cause some wearing away of the wax coating. When this happens, throwing textiles away is not the best option for sustainable living, not when there are quick and easy ways to refresh the beeswax coating or to make your own new beeswax wraps from scratch. Check out our guide on how to rejuvenate your beeswax wraps or to make your own from scratch.
Some beeswax wraps have a more pungent scent than others. The natural scent of beeswax is to be expected in all beeswax wraps. Even though there may be a scent of beeswax around the food that you’re sealing, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the taste of your food is being altered. Of course, if the food is being stored in direct contact with the beeswax wrap, for example, tightly wrapping beeswax wrap around cheese, some taste transference is expected. If you are particularly sensitive to this, there are odorless beeswax wrap options available on the market.
It’s really heartening for me that there are more eco-friendly alternatives that replace plastic every year. Once you start using these more sustainable options you'll produce less plastic waste. As a bonus, there are other uses; for example, when I need to open a particularly tight jar, I use beeswax wraps to add grip to the lid of the jar.
You can’t go wrong with any of the plastic replacements that I’ve written about above, but if I HAD TO pick a winner, the Bee's Wrap assorted three-pack is my favorite. I really love the beeswax scent of all bees wrap, but the smell of these wraps, in particular, is really pleasant. Plus, the variety of colorful designs is pleasing to the eye. The value for money is easy on the wallet.
And that’s besides keeping my food fresh and my pantry, fridge and kitchen plastic-free.
