Reduce Plastic, DIY Beeswax Wrap

I’m always late when it comes to trends, but I thought I’d do this Bee’s Wrap review and DIY beeswax wrap post for others out there that are interested in how to live a greener, more sustainable lifestyle and that are late comers to this delightful and attractive alternative to plastic wrap.

We almost always used to recycle, use re-usable shopping bags, mason jars vs plastic containers around half the time, and we tried to do non toxic-green cleaning for most things. But then we moved from the Midwest to the PNW. It’s felt like life has been turned upside down for the longest time! To this day I’m still putting pieces of our life in order! Every time I think I’m done it seems like another weeks worth of piecework presents itself!

Anyways, one of the pieces I’m re-establishing is our sustainable ways. One I’m having trouble with is that our new location has no recycling options for glass or plastic! So because of this I’ve been looking into ways we can live a little more sustainably. That’s where Bees Wrap comes in.

I ordered Beeswrap a couple months ago and went bonkers over it almost immediately. (GET YOURS HERE).

The only problem; I wanted a super large piece (larger than they made) for my biggest casserole dish.

I also decided I wanted more pieces. I had beeswax, and a lot of experience with it because I’m a master herbalist and make my own salve. Once I started looking into it I found out how easy it would be to make!

Annnnd…..in typical homeschool mom fashion I decided “Hey, why not involve the kids and make it an arts and crafts project?” But, I couldn’t do that without explaining why, so from there it evolved into a science study, which lead to a social studies subject, and from there an ethical lesson, reports, the works, lol! (You’ve heard how a homeschool mom changes a light bulb, right?)

Really, do you blame me? After all, reducing the use of plastics is such an important issue!!

By the time we were done with our research my kids were picking up litter in our back yard (on their own initiative).

I knew for sure the lesson was a success when I asked for a plastic bag later that day and the 9 year old replied as if I had requested an atomic bomb, “DON’T USE THAT! IT’S PLASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

At that point I had to reiterate the word “Reduce“, as in “Kids I said we are reducing plastic, it’s going to be a journey!”

Check out these fun and interesting videos we found that convinced the kids to reduce and stop using plastics!

Anyways, we had a TON of fun making our own plastic wrap alternative with cloth and beeswax. My kids decided one way we could help the plastic situation in the USA is to make this beeswax plastic wrap alternative as gifts for friends and family, along with a little paragraph or two they wrote on what they learned and why they are giving this gift.

So here are some reasons we think Bees Wrap and the homemade, DIY plastic wrap alternative is so special.

DIY Beeswax Wrap Benefits

• There’s the obvious-it’s recyclable. Plastic wrap is terrible for the environment, ends up in landfills and oceans, kills ocean life and takes years to break down (watch the video below). Beeswax wrap is completely biodegradable.
• It’s non toxic. Plastic wrap is made of chemicals which are unhealthy, and leach into the food. BPA is linked to hormone disruption and weight gain. Phthalates  are linked to hormone imbalance as well, and are said to be especially harmful to males, and linked to infertility especially if exposed in utro, see HERE and the included video below). With Bees Wrap you won’t have to worry about this.
• It’s reusable and saves money!
• Beeswax is antibacterial and antifungal.
• Beeswax wrap is pretty.

Would you like to make your own plastic wrap alternative? It’s super fun and easy! I’ll warn you though, it’s messy. Here’s our little beeswax wrap tutorial. We apologize now that the quality isn’t the best, we will be doing a better one soon!

DIY Beeswax Wrap Tutorial

So we’ve made a few rounds of beeswax wrap so far, and I do have two suggestions! Wash your fabric with hot water and a plant based, non toxic, and fragrance free detergent (you don’t want toxic chemical residue left behind in the fabric). I triple rinsed my fabric!

The second tip I have is to coat the beeswax pellets in a little jojoba or mineral oil. This makes the completed beeswax wrap far more easy to mold into place and way less stiff!

GET BEESWAX PELLETS HERE

When it comes to clean up, it’s easiest if you use a paper towel or a piece of fabric you intend to turn into beeswax wrap later to clean the cookie sheet while it’s still hot, and then use lots of soap and elbow grease to clean it!

Once again, if you don’t want to mess with the mess (pun intended) you always can just purchase it! I have a few different options for Bees Wrap in my Amazon Store and the prints are lovely!

In comparing the homemade DIY beeswax wrap to Bee’s Wrap I would have to say Bee’s Wrap is a 10 in awesomeness, and the DIY version is a 9-but if you coat the pellets in oil like I suggest the DIY is a 10 as well!

What are some of your favorite, sustainable, and plastic free choices? Drop them in the comments section below!

Oh, and are you following me on Pinterest? Check out my board on SUSTAINABILITY HERE!

Did you like the bee print from the video? Here’s a similar one I found for you on Amazon plus a few extra.

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