In Bali, banana leaves and bamboo get it done.
Lizzy Fallows, who lives with her family in Santa Barbara, writes the column Notes From the Home Front.
My family of six spent time in Bali’s Ubud region this summer, and we were humbled and impressed by the ways the Balinese bend, pin, and roll banana leaves to make beautiful, effective, truly compostable take-away containers.
In the morning, people unfurl rolls of the pliable green leaves to reveal rice and curries brought home for a warming breakfast. A local Korean restaurant packs up its kimbap (a version of sushi) in perfectly fitted boxes constructed from fresh and dried banana leaves held together by toothpicks. Vibrant, coconut-filled traditional Balinese sweets are presented on banana leaf platters adorned with flowers.
When banana leaves aren’t quite right, other materials from the natural world fill in. Bamboo is used for straws, leftover newspapers and dried husks become bags. In many cases, at the end of a meal, we were able to toss our food scraps along with its packaging directly into the compost bin — no premium composting facility required.
Note that Bali still has a huge plastic problem, but it’s encouraging to see some plastic products being replaced by natural materials. Equipment coming straight from nature is efficient, Earth-friendly, and beautiful!
