[1 - 3] newsdesk reporting
[6 - 6] live from burlington vermont
[8 - 10] [Music] every year americans go through millions
[10 - 13] every year americans go through millions of tons of single-use plastics and too
[13 - 15] much of that ends up in our landfills
[15 - 17] and in our oceans according to the epa
[17 - 21] in 2018 alone we generated 14.5
[21 - 23] million tons of plastic waste in the
[23 - 25] category of containers and packaging
[25 - 27] that's things like bottles straws
[27 - 29] plastic bags etc and that is the
[29 - 31] equivalent to the weight of a hundred
[31 - 35] and forty five thousand boeing 757
[35 - 37] luckily there are plenty of alternatives
[37 - 39] to single-use plastic food products that
[39 - 40] we should all consider we're going to
[40 - 42] take a look at some of our favorite
[42 - 43] products that help you lighten the load
[43 - 45] on the environment and maybe even your
[45 - 50] wallet first up hannah
[51 - 51] all right so the first plastic
[51 - 52] alternative we're going to talk about
[52 - 54] today replaces plastic wrap i have a
[54 - 57] roll right here americans use a lot of
[57 - 59] this stuff tens of millions of rolls a
[59 - 61] year most of which ends up in a landfill
[63 - 66] somewhere we tested six types of plastic wrap
[66 - 68] we tested six types of plastic wrap alternatives i have some right here
[68 - 71] these are pieces of fabric coated in
[71 - 73] beeswax you put over and you warm them
[73 - 74] and they create a seal with your hands
[74 - 76] they're biodegradable you use them again
[76 - 77] and again you wash them with a soap and
[78 - 80] a sponge we love some of these kinds but
[80 - 82] it was real goldilocks situation some of
[82 - 83] them weren't sticky enough and it was
[83 - 85] like bending a piece of cardboard over
[86 - 88] them they didn't create good seals they
[88 - 89] didn't preserve the food well others
[90 - 91] were too sticky they were annoying to
[91 - 93] clean they stuck to our hands they were
[93 - 95] hard to get on and off some of them
[95 - 97] though were just right and this is our
[97 - 99] winner right here from abigo and it was
[99 - 101] obviously in the just right category it
[101 - 104] was just sticky enough to form a perfect
[104 - 106] seal but not too sticky that it was
[106 - 108] annoying to use and it retained its
[108 - 110] cling through 10 cleanings which is
[110 - 112] really important some of these you
[112 - 113] washed them once and then they weren't
[113 - 115] clingy anymore which you know is really
[115 - 117] wasteful all right so the first thing we
[117 - 118] looked at was how well these worked as
[118 - 120] makeshift lids which you know you seal
[120 - 122] something over the top of the bowl when
[122 - 123] you have leftovers or whatever you want
[123 - 124] to keep something fresh so i'm going to
[124 - 125] show you with our winner right here how
[125 - 127] you would seal this i have a bowl of
[128 - 129] little teeny potatoes so i have it
[129 - 131] placed on top and i'm going to use the
[131 - 133] heat of my hands just to
[133 - 137] form a tight seal i'm going around
[137 - 139] i like to seal it once you know go
[139 - 142] around and then just do a little bit
[142 - 144] with the heat of your hands pick up any
[144 - 146] spots that look like they didn't seal
[146 - 148] completely although honestly this looks
[148 - 150] like it did a pretty good
[150 - 152] job on the first go this is all sealed
[152 - 153] i'm going to show you what a tight seal
[153 - 155] this is i can shake this upside down and
[155 - 157] it's holding and as you can see that was
[157 - 160] pretty easy um we also used this to
[160 - 162] preserve all different kinds of foods
[162 - 164] halved avocados as you know is something
[164 - 166] that can be really testy they might go
[166 - 168] they go bad really quickly so i have
[168 - 169] some back here that i wrapped up
[174 - 174] i have one that i wrapped in plastic
[174 - 176] wrap and one that i wrapped in beeswrap
[176 - 177] we want to wrap foods up like this so
[177 - 179] they don't get oxidized the surfaces
[179 - 181] turn black they become gross you don't
[181 - 182] want to eat them
[182 - 185] so it's to better preserve the food and
[185 - 187] i am gonna unwrap these and we are gonna
[187 - 190] check out the difference
[190 - 192] okay avocados are always tricky they
[193 - 195] just live to go brown but um these look the
[195 - 197] live to go brown but um these look the exact same here i'm gonna get a little
[197 - 200] closer and show you here
[200 - 202] yeah so these look you know a little
[202 - 205] oxidation is always gonna happen with
[205 - 207] avocados but i think the takeaway here
[207 - 210] is that our winning wrap it works just
[210 - 212] as well as plastic wrap i have to say
[212 - 214] honestly the plastic wrap was actually
[214 - 216] harder to use you know it sticks to
[216 - 218] itself our winning plastic wrap is much
[218 - 221] easier to use than most plastic wraps
[221 - 223] but plastic wrap in general can be super
[223 - 224] annoying you know it sticks to itself
[224 - 226] you tear a sheet your cutter is broken
[226 - 228] whereas the abigo wrap you know it just
[228 - 230] goes around it like that doesn't stick
[232 - 234] pause to warm it up with your hands and
[234 - 236] then you're done so it's actually easier
[236 - 239] to use and performance wise the food is
[239 - 240] just as fresh
[240 - 241] all right so the next product we're
[241 - 243] going to talk about that can help you
[243 - 244] reduce single-use plastic in your
[244 - 246] kitchen are silicone reusable lids i
[246 - 248] have one right here it's shaped like a
[248 - 251] giant lily pad which is so cute um and
[251 - 252] these you can use all different ways you
[252 - 254] know you can use them as a lid on the
[254 - 256] stovetop which is great you might think
[256 - 258] won't it melt but it's silicone which is
[258 - 260] actually heat resistant to much higher
[260 - 261] temperatures than plastic so you can use
[261 - 264] it as a lid nestled inside a skillet or
[264 - 265] on top of a pot
[265 - 267] and then you can also use it much in the
[267 - 269] same way that you would use plastic wrap
[269 - 271] so on top of a bowl to seal food in
[271 - 273] there and keep it fresh
[273 - 275] i actually have a little one on a can of
[280 - 280] in my fridge right here
[280 - 283] and these are super easy to use
[284 - 286] to seal it you put it on you just push
[286 - 288] it down which creates a seal and then
[288 - 290] look at i can just pick it right up but
[290 - 293] they weren't all easy to use we tested
[293 - 296] six of these and they come in sets which
[296 - 297] is cool because obviously you have
[297 - 298] different sizes of things that you want
[298 - 300] to cover and they really fell into two
[300 - 302] categories so they were the simple flat
[302 - 304] style like this and then there were ones
[304 - 307] that stretched over the top and the ones
[307 - 309] that stretched over the top they looked
[309 - 311] really cool but they were really hard to
[311 - 312] use you know some of these you
[312 - 314] practically needed two people to like
[314 - 315] pull them and stretch them over the
[315 - 317] container it felt like you know putting
[317 - 318] on a pair of pants after thanksgiving
[318 - 320] weekend this is actually our second
[320 - 322] place brand they performed really well
[322 - 325] but our winner is from gir which stands
[325 - 327] for get it right and they had a straight
[327 - 328] line you know this is an adorable lily
[328 - 330] pad shape but they were a real perfect
[330 - 331] circle which really matched our skillets
[332 - 333] better the reason i have the second
[333 - 334] place winner a little insider knowledge
[334 - 338] here is at atk we have a big closet
[338 - 339] where all the winners go it's called the
[339 - 342] winner's closet and um so us testers do
[342 - 344] get to take stuff home but it's not the
[344 - 346] winners winners go to the closet and we
[346 - 348] get second third fourth fifth sixth
[348 - 349] seventh eighth ninth tenth place
[349 - 351] products at home so this is my off-brand
[351 - 353] kitchen with sometimes i have a winner
[353 - 355] because i buy it but otherwise things
[355 - 357] are like the you know best next option
[358 - 359] so these lids are fantastic i will never
[359 - 361] go back to using plastic wrap for this
[361 - 363] kind of thing i'm a total convert our
[363 - 366] winner is great too but um whatever
[366 - 367] style you get definitely get one of the
[367 - 368] flat ones don't get one of those
[368 - 370] stretchy pull around ones they were a
[370 - 372] pain in the butt to use
[372 - 373] all right so the next product that we're
[373 - 375] going to talk about are straws you know
[376 - 377] plastic straws are a big problem
[377 - 379] culturally there has been a movement
[379 - 380] away from straws a lot of restaurants
[380 - 381] are trying not to give them
[381 - 383] automatically or they're using
[383 - 385] compostable options but
[385 - 387] straws are kind of nice to drink out of
[387 - 388] you know i love drinking out of a straw
[388 - 390] so if you still want to use a straw you
[390 - 392] can use a reusable straw and then you're
[392 - 394] not you know doing bad things for the
[394 - 396] planet so we tested 12 options some were
[396 - 399] sold singly others were sold in sets and
[399 - 400] there was a wide range of materials
[400 - 402] there was bamboo stainless steel
[402 - 405] silicone there were glass ones on the
[405 - 407] market but we chose not to test them we
[407 - 408] just figured they weren't that safe they
[408 - 410] could possibly chip we didn't like the
[410 - 412] bamboo straws they were a little rough
[412 - 413] on our lips and they made drinks
[413 - 415] actually taste like wood which is not
[415 - 417] ideal um the silicone straws some of
[417 - 419] them were too bendy which we didn't like
[419 - 421] but some were firmer which was great
[421 - 423] stainless steel straws the ones that
[423 - 425] were just made from stainless steel were
[425 - 427] a little too firm like it was
[427 - 429] nerve-wracking sipping for them we felt
[429 - 430] like we were going to chip a tooth we
[430 - 432] had two winners and both of them we
[432 - 434] thought were great um this oxo set comes
[434 - 436] with four straws two
[436 - 437] heights here for a shorter cup and a
[438 - 440] taller cup we like the silicone end here
[440 - 442] it's really soft and comfortable to sip
[442 - 444] from and then the stainless steel body
[444 - 445] you know didn't make
[445 - 447] the drink taste like anything it was
[447 - 449] very neutral and we love that it came
[449 - 450] with a cleaning brush because you don't
[450 - 452] want mildew or grossness to get inside
[452 - 453] there and it's really hard to clean
[453 - 455] otherwise we also chose a silicone
[455 - 457] winner because we loved its traveling
[457 - 459] case neither of our winners stained even
[459 - 461] the one that was made fully from silicon
[461 - 463] you know we actually made a turmeric
[463 - 465] spiked smoothie and drank it through
[465 - 466] there and it didn't stain which is great
[466 - 467] because you don't want these to be
[467 - 469] smelly and stinky the next time you go
[469 - 471] to use it alright so whether you prefer
[471 - 473] a set that is mostly stainless steel
[473 - 474] with silicone tips comes with a bunch of
[474 - 476] different height options and a cleaning
[476 - 478] tool or a silicone set that has a
[478 - 479] carrying case there's really something
[479 - 481] here for everybody now let's go to lisa
[481 - 483] and see some of her favorite
[483 - 484] eco-friendly tools
[491 - 491] okay so i'm here today with our winning
[491 - 492] plastic and glass food storage
[492 - 494] containers you might wonder why i'm
[494 - 496] saying buy a plastic food storage
[496 - 499] container to save on plastic
[499 - 501] but you know if you're using subpar
[503 - 505] cheap throwaway kind of plastic food
[505 - 507] throwaway kind of plastic food containers they're not going to last
[507 - 508] they're going to break they're going to
[508 - 509] leak they're going to stain they're
[509 - 511] going to warp
[511 - 512] and you're going to end up throwing them
[512 - 514] away and getting more if you buy good
[514 - 517] quality containers it's one and done so
[517 - 520] i did this testing and i tested 11 total
[520 - 522] brands six of them were plastic five
[522 - 524] were glass we looked at all kinds of
[524 - 527] factors including their design whether
[527 - 529] or not they leaked or were airtight how
[529 - 532] well they stood up to freezing and
[532 - 534] heating in the microwave we also put
[534 - 536] fish in them overnight and then smelled
[536 - 538] them after they were cleaned to see if
[538 - 540] they trapped any odors we looked at
[540 - 541] whether they stained after they were
[541 - 544] microwaved in opened and closed the lids
[544 - 546] 100 times on each container basically
[546 - 548] put them through their paces to see if
[548 - 549] they were gonna last
[549 - 551] these were the best we have the
[551 - 553] rubbermaid brilliance
[553 - 556] and the oxo good grips smartseal glass
[556 - 558] container this one
[558 - 560] really seals tightly
[560 - 563] in fact it's got a really tight seal and
[564 - 566] it didn't stain nothing stuck in here it
[566 - 569] all stayed nice and clean this gasket
[569 - 572] unlike a lot of them didn't trap odors
[572 - 574] you can clean under it and it stays
[574 - 575] attached some of them had these little
[575 - 577] skinny gaskets that you had to pull out
[577 - 579] and clean and then try to put it back in
[580 - 581] and that was like whack-a-mole and drove
[581 - 585] us crazy this has both a gasket seal
[586 - 587] and you can hear the air whooshing out
[587 - 589] of it as well as these little clips the
[590 - 592] glass one has a gasket that comes out
[592 - 596] but it's nice and big and easy to grab
[596 - 598] and you can completely pull this out
[598 - 601] and wash it and put it back fairly
[602 - 604] simply it's a completely closed gasket so food
[604 - 606] it's a completely closed gasket so food isn't going to get up in there that just
[606 - 609] lets the side of the glass container get
[609 - 611] right in there for a tight tight seal
[611 - 613] and this one didn't leak either they're
[613 - 614] both reasonably priced you know
[614 - 616] obviously reusing your old yogurt
[617 - 620] container is cheaper and it's nice to reuse things
[620 - 621] is cheaper and it's nice to reuse things but if you're going to take these with
[621 - 623] you to work with your lunch or bringing
[623 - 625] them somewhere they're going to last you
[625 - 626] a lot longer you're not going to be
[626 - 628] throwing away containers and getting
[628 - 631] more containers glass versus plastic is
[631 - 633] kind of a personal choice if you often
[633 - 635] carry things with you
[635 - 638] plastic is much lighter and it's
[638 - 639] you know it's pretty unbreakable if you
[641 - 643] the glass is breakable and it's a lot
[643 - 645] heavier but it's also very sturdy and it
[645 - 647] has that extra purpose where you can put
[647 - 649] it right in the oven and bake in it if
[649 - 651] you need to without the lid obviously
[651 - 653] the plastic on the lid is not good for
[653 - 655] the oven but i reheated mac and cheese
[655 - 657] in this and it worked great it works as
[657 - 659] kind of a little loaf pan as well in
[659 - 661] this size these containers are sold both
[661 - 663] individually and as sets and there's a
[663 - 664] whole bunch of different sets you can
[665 - 667] just dozens of sizes i have a few
[667 - 669] examples here
[669 - 671] i have a few more actually put some
[672 - 676] chili in in last night
[676 - 678] and stored them in my fridge we washed
[678 - 680] these 52 times on normal cycles in the
[680 - 683] dishwasher and then repeated all of the
[683 - 685] tests again including heating and
[685 - 687] freezing and doing all that stuff i
[687 - 689] froze them with water in them and then
[689 - 692] dropped them except for the glass ones
[692 - 694] because we wanted to know if if having
[694 - 696] washed them for a year they were going
[696 - 698] to degrade and our winners did not now
[698 - 701] you can reheat these
[701 - 703] right in the container either one of
[703 - 706] them this is bpa free plastic
[706 - 708] which is considered safe for microwaving
[708 - 711] and you can just pop these little
[711 - 713] sides up and that has a vent underneath
[713 - 716] the snaps so that you can heat right in
[716 - 719] the microwave without splattering
[719 - 721] in the test kitchen we put
[721 - 723] chili in and we froze them all solid
[723 - 726] then took them out still frozen
[726 - 727] and put them into the microwave and
[727 - 729] heated them up to 160 degrees which is a
[729 - 732] piping hot serving temperature these are
[732 - 734] winners were fine some of them did
[734 - 736] discolor some warped a little bit and
[736 - 739] were harder to close afterward for this
[739 - 741] last one the lid is plastic so you
[741 - 742] cannot heat it up
[742 - 745] in the oven with the plastic lid on but
[745 - 747] you can heat it up in the microwave they
[747 - 749] just tell you to loosen the um the snaps
[749 - 751] just so that it can vent a little bit
[751 - 753] because it's so airtight anything when
[753 - 755] it's heating is going to expand the hot
[755 - 756] air expands you're going to have a
[756 - 759] problem i don't know that it would break
[759 - 760] but you don't want to do that you want
[760 - 762] to let it vent a little bit so you just
[762 - 764] open the flaps and put the lid on
[764 - 766] loosely we really feel that these are
[766 - 767] good containers to buy and they're going
[767 - 769] to save you some money in the long run
[769 - 772] and keep you from using a ton of lesser
[772 - 775] quality containers over time another big
[775 - 777] problem for the environment is plastic
[777 - 780] bags we all use them all the time they
[780 - 781] add up we tested a bunch of different
[781 - 784] options and some of them are these these
[785 - 788] are our reusable silicone bags our winner is
[788 - 790] our reusable silicone bags our winner is by rezip it has a gusset at the bottom
[790 - 792] that stands up this is the second place
[792 - 795] one that's flat it holds up really well
[795 - 797] and you can reuse it a bunch of times
[797 - 799] and save a lot of plastic bags when you
[799 - 801] go to the grocery store and you're
[801 - 804] picking up produce like potatoes and
[804 - 806] leafy greens you know and you take those
[806 - 808] those filmy little plastic bags from the
[808 - 810] produce department and you bring them
[811 - 814] home you can skip that whole step with these
[814 - 816] you can skip that whole step with these reusable produce bags we tested the
[816 - 819] purify you set of reusable produce bags
[819 - 821] one of the things we loved about them
[822 - 824] they're a mesh that is a little bit breathable
[824 - 827] a mesh that is a little bit breathable but very tough we put whole pineapples
[827 - 829] in the biggest one and swung them around
[829 - 830] and it didn't rip like a lot of the
[830 - 832] other bags we tested
[832 - 834] we put everything down to
[834 - 837] flour in these we put grains flour does
[837 - 839] come through but grains of rice and
[840 - 842] other types of grains do not so you can
[843 - 845] store rice in them or bring them home for if
[845 - 847] rice in them or bring them home for if you buy in bulk they also have these
[847 - 850] really good closures with a little bead
[850 - 852] that stays closed it doesn't reopen and
[852 - 853] dump everything while you're
[853 - 855] transporting it home
[855 - 858] so we love these as just a solution for
[859 - 861] not getting fistfuls of those crummy plastic
[861 - 863] getting fistfuls of those crummy plastic bags in the produce section a third
[863 - 865] thing you can do to save on using
[865 - 867] single-use plastic bags
[867 - 870] is to wash them and reuse them now
[870 - 872] obviously not when you've had raw meat
[872 - 873] in them but for a lot of times you're
[873 - 875] throwing away bags that are barely dirty
[875 - 877] you can put a few drops of dish soap and
[878 - 879] some warm water swash them around rinse
[880 - 882] them out and hang them on a bag drying
[882 - 884] rack we tested a bunch of them our
[884 - 887] winner is by flow works design it's made
[887 - 889] of repurposed wood
[889 - 892] and it is nice with lots of lots of tall
[892 - 894] arms to hold lots of bags and bottles
[894 - 897] open for drying and you can reuse them a
[897 - 899] few times and just reduce the number of
[899 - 901] bags that you buy and put out there into
[901 - 903] the landfill all right so those were
[903 - 905] some of our favorite products to reduce
[905 - 908] single-use plastic in your kitchens um i
[908 - 910] think lisa would agree with me here
[910 - 912] after we tested these in the test
[912 - 914] kitchen we bought them for our homes
[914 - 915] like the fact that they're actually
[915 - 918] easier to use really just won me over
[918 - 919] yeah i mean obviously they're good for
[919 - 921] the environment they're more durable
[922 - 923] they're reusable and they can even save
[923 - 925] you some money we think that any of
[925 - 926] these would be a great addition to your
[926 - 928] home kitchen so for more information
[928 - 929] about all the products we talked about
[929 - 931] check out the links below yeah and ask
[931 - 933] us any questions you have in the
[933 - 934] comments and make sure to hit that
[934 - 936] subscribe button so you never miss an