Reduce, Reuse, Wrap (in Beeswax!)

It's been a continuing journey to reduce our family's waste footprint over the years - at times really difficult making that choice of consciousness over convenience - particularly with a large family.

We've tried to be aware of our food choices and their impact on water (see What's Your Water Footprint?), our health and beauty choices and their impact on plastics and packaging (switching to bar soaps, shampoos, conditioners), as well as household items like Ziploc bags, cleaners, and laundry detergent (switching to silicone bags and eco laundry sheets).

We're by no means close to model eco-citizens but we keep slowly plugging away at it, hoping to keep lowering our impact.

For several years, we've been enrolled in a subscription program called Mighty Nest that has really helped make some of these switches easier. For $10/month, Mighty Nest sends you a random new eco-friendly product to try. Some have been really great and we made the switch with ease as the products were really good quality and it was a no-brainer.

But some habits have just been difficult to break - Ziploc bags are probably my hardest! They are still my go-to for so many things, even though I have several silicone alternatives.

Awhile back, we were introduced to beeswax wraps thru Mighty Nest. They were great for wrapping chunks of cheese or other hard items for fridge storage. Herbs wrapped in beeswax are also a win as they stay fresher longer. The wraps did cut down significantly the number of Ziploc bags (or amount of plastic wrap) we went thru. Although to be honest, some of the reduction is probably also related to the increase in age of our kids - Ziploc bags solved so many issues in those early years!

Given that they were one of our easy switch successes, it was exciting for me to discover tutorials for making my own homemade beeswax wraps. Plus I now had several years' worth of beeswax collected from my beekeeping honey harvests and had never gotten around to any of the candle, chapstick, or other Pinteresty things I imagined I would do with it. But I did have confidence I would use the wraps for myself and for gifts so this was worth a 'Craft Day'!

I made my first batch and I have to say it was really pretty easy - an afternoon's worth of work. Since all the ingredients can easily be found online, thought it would be worth posting the 'how-to' here for anyone to do themselves, with a few lessons learned on the first few 'not so perfect' squares =). There are many websites providing recipes out there. I took mine from my subscription American Beekeeping Journal magazine from a regular author who tested her method and I felt comfortable copying.

This recipe makes enough for ~16-20 pieces of fabric. And note, you can buy smaller amounts of ingredients than what you see pictured here or even 'beeswax wrap kits' if you didn't want to buy larger bulk supplies.

Ingredients

• 3.5 oz beeswax
• 0.8 oz pine rosin (I used Camp Ben nuggets)
• 1 tbsp jojoba oil (I used certified organic, Kate Blanc)
• Cotton fabric squares (Amazon sells precut packs for quilting or just remnants in tons of designs). Use whatever shapes or sizes you desire. Some people like to edge with pinking shears. I got pack of 50 squares for ~$15.

Using the paintbrush to spread the liquid across the fabric evenly, you will easily be able to see where the fabric looks dry and you may need a bit more. If you do happen to put too much on, just use another piece of fabric to mop up extra.

After 2 minutes, remove the pan and set it on a safe surface on the counter and then lift the fabric up and wave in the air to cool it (about 30 seconds). I found it was better to pick 2 corners up and wave. When lifting just one corner, it sometimes folded over on itself and created a 'crease' in the look. I then put it on a sheet of wax paper/parchment paper to continue drying fully.

Repeat for each square of fabric. Note I was able to do 2 to 4 pieces of fabric while still leaving the jar of wax mixture on the counter before needing to return it to the water bath to reheat. Fold and style the wraps however you’d like for presentation or storage.

I put 2 to a pack in my gift sets since the fabric squares I bought had some matching themes and it was fun to pair up colors and patterns. Others I've seen on Etsy or other sites make a nice collection of different sizes in related colors which would be great as well.

They should last several years. You can warm them up in an oven to refresh if the wax hardens or starts to crack.

Hopefully, whether you buy them or make them, this gives you an idea to make one small change in what you use at home as we all get continue to get better at reducing, reusing, and recycling!