13 Eco-Friendly Lunch Bags & Boxes For Plastic Free Lunchtimes
Lunch is served!
We’ve even cut off the crusts and chemicals that come with plastic food storage.
We have rounded up some of the best eco-friendly lunch bags and boxes we could find and are serving them up on a neat little platter just for you.
After all, no one likes a lunch money bully OR a planetary bully.
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The Most Sustainable Lunch Bags & Boxes You Can Take to school (or work)
We do like Stasher, the company that makes a plastic-free alternatives to ziploc bags.
Fluf is a woman-owned company that helps us head back to the office in style with their affordable eco friendly insulated lunch bags for adults (and kids) made from organic cotton.
If you want to make sure your chips don’t get crunched to dust, check out the stainless steel lunch and bento boxes from ECOlunchbox. Their name says it all!
If you can sense your PB&J starting to get soggy (peanut butter on both slices of bread helps), cut the lunch line and check out how we looked for sustainable lunch accessories.
THE FULL LIST OF ECO-FRIENDLY LUNCH BAGS AND BOXES
Eco Friendly Lunch Bags
Eco Friendly Lunch Boxes
Eco Friendly Lunch Bags
1. STASHER
About Stasher
Price Range: $10–$84
Stasher changed the world when they provided an alternative to single-use plastic bags.
Lunch everywhere is greener thanks to Stasher’s self-sealing, airtight silicone bags—the world’s first.
Their eco friendly reusable lunch bags come in several different shapes, sizes, and colors. All are vegan, BPA-free, and phthalate-free.
PS: These aren’t only great for lunches, but are one of the best all-around plastic-free food storage options to have on hand in your zero waste kitchen.
Stasher’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Stasher bags are responsibly produced in a facility in China that is SA8000 certified.
The bags are sent in compostable packaging made from 70% post-consumer recycled cardboard.
When the bags themselves reach the end of their life, Stasher’s partnership with TerraCycle helps to properly recycle them.
Stasher is also a member of 1% for the Planet.
Also available on EarthHero
2. FLUF
About Fluf
Price Range: $9–$32
There’s no fluff when it comes to the sustainability of Fluf—or their eco friendly lunch bags for kids.
These include an organic cotton zipper lunch bag, as well as reusable organic cotton snack bags.
The lunch bags feature fun designs that are easy to clean. As for the inside, they have an interior pouch for drinks and a water-resistant recycled lining.
Fluf’s Ethical and Sustainability Practices
This woman-owned company designs their products in Toronto, Canada before they’re handmade in a family-owned and operated Indian factory.
Fluf’s organic cotton is GOTS-certified and the lining is made of 100% recycled plastic water bottles.
The lunch bags ship plastic-free in recycled/recyclable materials.
3. FULL CIRCLE HOME
About Full Circle Home
Price Range: $6–$8
For snacks and sandwiches without single-use plastics, Full Circle Home’s ZipTuck is their handy reusable eco friendly lunch bag product.
Made with FDA-approved EVA, these bags are free of PVC, phthalates, and BPA.
They come in different sizes (for snacks and sandwiches) and designs.
Full Circle Home’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Full Circle home is a Certified B Corp that is also plastic neutral, thanks to their offsets through Plastic Bank.
The bags are sent in recyclable/recycled materials.
4. HYDRO FLASK
About Hydro Flask
Price Range: $25–$106
This next brand obviously makes some of the world’s favorite eco-friendly water bottles.
But did you know Hydro Flask can satisfy your solid food needs as well?
In addition to several insulated food jars, their eco friendly lunch box, insulated lunch totes, and array of backpack coolers (for those hike-to-lunch outings) ensure you can enjoy nature without polluting it.
They keep contents cold for 4 hours and make clean-up easy with waterproof coated fabric.
Hydro Flask’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
The Oregon based brand makes award-winning high-performance insulated products in an attempt to combat single-use plastics.
And they are designed to last. Buy one and keep it forever!
5. LIFE WITHOUT PLASTIC
About Life Without Plastic
Price Range: $10–$123
Wool and organic cotton are the superstars in the eco friendly insulated lunch bags from Life Without Plastic.
The wool is used as all-natural insulation, sewn between layers of certified organic cotton. An additional organic cotton lining can be snapped out for easy washing.
Some parts are hand-dyed with natural vegetable dyes and others are totally undyed, meaning the fabric can be composted.
Even the zipper and snap buttons are plastic-free!
For something a little more solid, stainless steel lunch boxes are also available.
Life WIthout Plastic’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Life Without Plastic has all of the essentials for a zero waste kit and so much more.
This zero waste online store has a vision for a world without fossil-fuel-derived plastic, and their high-quality, ethically sourced products can help you contribute to that world.
6. INDEPENDENT MAKERS ON ETSY
Price Range: Various
You could obviously pack your lunch in a different sack every day for the rest of your life with the options on Etsy, but we’ll help you try to narrow it down to one really good option.
Here are some of our favorites:
- Italic Home: Reminiscent of elementary school lunch, these eco friendly cloth lunch bags look like brown paper bags, but are in fact cotton canvas bags coated with paraffin and beeswax (unwaxed available, too).
- A Little Lark: This shop uses environmentally responsible materials (mostly organic) to make ethical, sweatshop-free products. Their affordable eco friendly lunch bags are made from recycled cotton with a rope handle. They can fold flat and are washable.
7. LEGO BAGS
About LEGO Bags
Price Range: $25
Sustainability for kids just leveled-up.
Lego Bags has eco friendly lunch bags for adults that will take you back to childhood.
By partnering with the legendary building block brand we all know and love, they’ve created not only nostalgia-filled lunch bags but sustainable backpacks for kids and adults.
The recycled plastic lunch bags feature a foam insulated compartment with an easy-to-clean lining.
LEGO Bags’ Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Like the backpacks and other bags in the collection, the eco friendly kids lunch bags are made with rPET sourced from post-consumer water bottles.
Three recycled bottles, to be exact.
All products are shipped in FSC-certified packaging.
Eco Friendly Lunch Boxes
8. ECOLUNCHBOX
About ECOlunchbox
Price Range: $10–$50
Say goodbye to plastic bags and stained BPA containers and say hello to eco friendly lunch box containers from ECOlunchbox.
There are lunch boxes, snack containers, camping plates, eco friendly bento boxes, tiffins, and cotton lunch bags to choose from.
All made from recyclable, food-grade stainless steel 201.
This means that they’re plastic-free and don’t contain harmful BPA, BPS, or phthalates. It also means they are dishwasher and freezer-friendly—making them perfect for those wondering how to freeze meat without plastic.
If you want something more flexible, they also make fabric lunch bags made from fair trade and GOTS-certified organic cotton.
ECOlunchbox Ethical & Sustainability Practices
ECOlunchbox is a Certified B-Corp founded by a “mom-on-a-mission”.
She’s helping us save the planet and save money (an average of $435 a year for families who usually use plastic and paper bags and pre-packaged snacks).
Every year, they offset a carbon dioxide equivalent of 4.7 million pounds of coal burned!
9. U KONSERVE
About U Konserve
Price Range: $13–$30
U Konserve helps to conserve our planet’s precious resources with their eco friendly metal lunch boxes.
They’re all made from BPA-free and non-toxic stainless steel with a plastic-free silicone lid, though you can choose the size and shape (circular or square).
U Konserve’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
The stainless steel base of these boxes can be recycled, as can the already recycled material they are packaged and shipped in.
U Konserve is a Certified B Corp and a member of 1% for the Planet.
10. TO-GO WARE
About To-Go Ware
Price Range: $9–$39
The most eco friendly lunch box is one you already have and after that, it’s the one that will last whatever you throw at it: hot or cold food, a dishwasher cycle, and years of use.
To-Go Ware’s non-toxic stainless steel tiffins are exactly that!
With a self-latching top container and a lid that doubles as a plate, these lunch containers are self-contained and easy to carry.
The stainless steel is recyclable at the end of its life.
To-Go Ware’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
To-Go Ware wants to ensure that future generations can enjoy packed lunches, so the Certified B Corp and member of 1% for the Planet is also Climate Neutral Certified.
All items are shipped in recycled/recyclable packaging.
11. KLEAN KANTEEN
About Klean Kanteen
Price Range: $25–$120
Klean Kanteen has several food solutions for snacks, lunches, and leftovers.
The brand prides itself on being plastic-free, which is why the containers are made with stainless steel bases and food-grade silicone lids.
They come in various sizes (snack, lunch, and meal).
All containers are durable, dishwasher safe, leak-proof, and suitable for hot and cold foods.
Their food boxes and insulated canisters make for a perfect eco friendly kids lunch box. The Insulated TK Canisters have the ability to keep food hot for up to 11 hours and cold for up to 45 hours.
For those of us who struggle to decide, the Pack Your Lunch Kit includes all you could need for a planet-friendly packed lunch.
Klean Kanteen’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Klean Kanteen was started by a brother-sister team and remains a family and employee-owned company.
They support their local Chico, California community by donating to organizations and schools, providing free filtered water at events, and sponsoring local environmental efforts.
They support their global community by being a Certified B Corp, a 1% for the Planet member, and a Climate Neutral Certified company.
12. EKOBO
About Ekobo
Price Range: $26–$48
Ekobo’s eco friendly bento box is made from sustainable FSC-certified bamboo fiber eco-composite, meaning that it’s free from BPA, PVC, and phthalates.
It is dishwasher safe and suitable for both hot and cold foods.
They come in a few different fun colors, all thanks to non-toxic, food-grade dyes.
Ekobo’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Ekobo uses raw organic bamboo sawdust for all products, sourced as a byproduct of the chopstick and flooring industry.
The sawdust is ground into powder and mixed with a non-toxic and food-safe binding resin.
All products are ethically made in China where workers receive living wages and safe work conditions.
All purchases made on Made Trade support a 100% Climate Neutral Certified company and 1% for the Planet.
13. PLANETBOX
About PlanetBox
Price Range: $4–$40
While PlanetBox has eco friendly school lunch bags, it’s their eco friendly lunch boxes for kids that are the real stand-out product.
The Rover is the biggest and best-selling lunchbox with 5 compartments, while the Shuttle is perfect for snacks or small meals. The Launch is better suited for older kids or adults.
Optional components and containers appeal to picky eaters and grazers.
The Puzzle Pod Containers, for instance, easily separate snacks and work like a puzzle to provide some lunchtime fun. Similarly, magnets can be added to some of the lunch boxes.
All of the lunch boxes are easy to clean and toxin-free.
PlanetBox’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
PlanetBox’s lunch boxes are designed by a husband-wife duo in California, then produced by a long-standing manufacturing partner in China.
They are 100% recyclable, too.
HOW WE FOUND THE MOST ECO-FRIENDLY LUNCH BAGS & BOXES
Here’s what we looked for when searching for these sustainable lunch box brands:
Materials:
For a solid lunch box, stainless steel is a go-to material. It’s chemical-free, keeps mold and bacteria at bay, doesn’t retain flavors, is easy to clean (dishwasher included), and it’s 100% recyclable.
In fact, most ‘new’ stainless steel products already contain roughly 60% recycled materials.
Sandwiches and silicone also go very well together—particularly because silicone can work in much the same way as plastic, but is silicone plastic? and is silicone biodegradable?
As for the latter, no. For the former, not exactly. It’s flexible, durable, sans chemical leaching (because it’s made of a non-toxic silica (sand) polymer) and can withstand heating and freezing. Either way it’s a better option than conventional hard to recyclable ziplock bags.
Bamboo, organic cotton, and recycled PET (from recycled plastic bottles) are also welcome to sit at the table. Even wool can be used to naturally insulate a lunch bag!
- Certifications: Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC), Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), Fair Trade
Supply chain and labor practices:
While not all these brands had ideal transparency here, it’s great to see ethical factories producing many of these products, where workers have access to fair wages and safe working conditions.
- Certifications: Certified B Corp, Climate Neutral, SA8000
Green business practices & community giving:
We’re always on the hunt for brands that give back with donations to organizations like 1% for the Planet, the use of easily recyclable materials (or send-back programs to properly recycle them), and sustainable packaging makes that packed green salad even greener!
FINAL THOUGHTS ON ECO-FRIENDLY LUNCH BAGS & BOXES
We need to eat—but we don’t need to eat up all of our planet’s resources.
Plastic has no place at the lunch table, which is why these brands are doing things a little differently.
If you’re able to, opting for ethical lunch box brands should always be the primary choice for your next picnic.
Next time you whip out your eco friendly lunch bag or box, feel free to spread the word about how a simple swap like this one can contribute towards a sustainable food system.
You can do that by sharing this article, too!
