Zero Waste Challenge- swapping out more paper products! (Wax Paper and Parchment Paper)

So a few weeks back when I made my first ever from scratch tortillas, I felt pretty darn accomplished. Now when you make tortillas- corn or flour- you use a crap-ton of wax paper. You need it to sheet between each tortilla flat dough circle while they sit waiting for you fry them up in the pan. Otherwise, they would seal right back together when it is time to finish making the tortillas ( sealing the dough by using the frying pan) into nice mushy round ball of sorts.

After making the totillas and after feeling so accomplished as I mentioned, I then had a huge wad of wax paper. I thought I could recycle this. I toss it into the recycle.

BUZZZZ! ( followed by 'Price is Right' trombone wha-wha-wha-wahhhhh)

That is the sound of the "nope, not gonna work" buzzer. A few days later, I learned that low and behold, wax paper is not recyclable. Not because of food residue because I cleaned it all before tossing it in the bin- but because *all wax paper's wax has petroleum- and it being fused with the paper makes it un-recyclable and will either be incinerated or added to the miles of dump-age somewhere. Boo.

So I researched. And found this amazing line of household products called If You Care ( http://www.ifyoucare.com/index.php ). They make/source household products that are 100% natural, packaging made from recycled material, and most of their package is recyclable or compostable too! I am excited to explore this product line more as I see some cleaning and detergents available that catch my eye... but more on that later.

If You Care has a wax paper where the wax is made from soy bean wax- and it is 100% biodegradable- which means, even with food residue on it ( like tortilla dough bits) - I can throw it in the compost or yard debris bins. YAY! I ordered that stash. They are about $1.75 more per roll than normal wax paper, but I feel that amount is a trifle compared to the dump savings- especially because otherwise one batch of tortillas kills my garbage limit for the week (s).

Here are the wax papers side by side- the normal/old I used to use and my new fav, the one from If You Care line.

Then there is parchment paper. Now, parchment baking paper is actually recyclable--- but it is one of those situations where if you don't have to use it up, use less.

I like the paper for the fruit roll ups, so will likely keep it for that purpose- but I recently was shown these things called Silpat Mats, (reusable rubbery baking mats) that I can reuse for my baking needs. The sweet grandmother lady at the Kitchen store I never used to go to told me all about them. I picked up two and used them for a few a baking things already- they work just as great at parchment paper to not have things stick to the pan and prevent burning- and when I was done, I wash them off and voila- no paper bits to toss into any bin- recyle bin or otherwise.

Again, one of the "R"s in the whole reuse, reduce and recycle mantra we learned as children of the 80's was a bit unspoken- it is the word "refuse" which is a word that, as people living in consumeristic materialist culture, should maybe try to practice more in these types of situations, right?