Zero-Waste Baking and Cooking

This post contains affiliate links. If you make a qualifying purchase through one or more of these links, we receive a commission, at no extra cost to you. If you enjoy reading content from the Wealhouse blog, please consider supporting our work through the affiliate referrals or through our online Wealhouse Store, as well.

Metal bakeware. Glassware. Stoneware. These are the basic options for eco-friendly baking because they are reusable and don’t create waste. And, if you’re baking homemade, you’re already avoiding all the plastic packaging from store-bought cakes, pies, muffins, and more. Good for you!

Unfortunately, home baking pans and stoneware don’t adequately cover all my baking needs. Sometimes, I still want to reach for aluminum foil, plastic wrap, or baking paper for special jobs.

When I’m roasting foods, I don’t like the hard, stuck-on bits of food that require soaking my metal pans in water or using abrasive cleaning pads. A simple layer of foil or parchment paper over my metal pan makes clean-up so convenient. The same goes for wax paper when I need a liner for cold or frozen foods; it makes a very useful nonstick surface.

I’ve also used aluminum foil to cover food while it’s in the oven. It keeps moisture in and prevents splatters from escaping into the oven. Plastic cling wrap is also super helpful to cover my large glassware pans that don’t have lids.

The problem is that almost all of these pieces of aluminum and sheets of plastic or paper go into the trash after one use. Maybe like me, you’ve asked, “Is there a better way?” The answer is “yes!” If you’ve come to this blog as part of your own research, I hope it helps you learn something new.

best practices for aluminum foil

Aluminum is by itself a very eco-friendly material. It is in relatively high demand as a recyclable metal and can be remade into new products over and over again with low cost input, as long as it is collected the right way.

Unfortunately, many tin foil sheets and aluminum pans are discarded incorrectly and end up in landfills. In fact, it is bad practice to put messy, soiled aluminum into the recycle bin [1], so most people simply opt for the trash can. Even if you do wash out foil pans or wipe down foil sheets to be recycled, the pieces are so lightweight and small they could blow out of the bin or get accidently mixed in with other materials.

If you choose to continue using foil, make sure you clean and dry it thoroughly before you recycle it. Rolling several clean pieces into a large, compact ball will help recycling facilities sort it more easily. Double check with your local waste management company to see if they will accept it in your curbside bin.

the silicone alternative

Silicone may be a better option for you if you’re trying to cut down on waste, even recyclable waste like aluminum.

Silicone has so many advantages. It is made from an abundant natural resource – sand! It’s nontoxic and non-stick. It withstands both high and low temperatures, so it can replace foil liners in the oven or wax paper in the fridge and freezer. It is reusable and cleans easily by hand or in the dishwasher.

Silicone is versatile in the kitchen. Baking mats, cake and chocolate molds, cooking utensils, reusable cupcake wrappers, pan covers, and stretchy lids are useful kitchen products that you can find made with silicone nowadays.

If you’re still relying on single-use options like tin foil and wax paper for baking and cooking, check out my selections below for silicone replacements. For other silicone products, such as round or square stretchy lids, you can pick from huge selections from big online stores, or shop at your local retailers.

NetZeroCompany – silicone baking mats (2 for $20) and silicone cupcake liners (12 for for $12.79)

Zefiro – large and small silicone baking mats at the Wealhouse Store

compostable options

Let’s talk about parchment paper and paper cupcake liners. While these can be more wasteful than reusable options, I believe there is a time and place for them. Of course, you might choose to go without them at all, and deal with extra cleanup, but sometimes it’s okay to look into other easy alternatives.

If you’re baking a gift for someone you probably don’t want to give away all your reusable silicone items or good bakeware sets. If you’re having a bake sale, you might want to pick a low-cost option and save someone else the hassle of washing and recycling aluminum. And, sometimes the convenience of single-use wins out over the work of cleaning all your reusable supplies after a large party.

In these cases, you can fall back on these cheap, compostable options made from sustainable resources.

Shop “If You Care” parchment paper, paper loaf pans, cake and pie pans, and three sizes of baking cups. They’re made with FSC-certified paper and are fully compostable (certified for home compost piles, too).

Shop at our Wealhouse Store for compostable cling film. These perforated, clear sheets are a starch-based biofilm. There’s no plastic and no metal blade; both product and packaging are safe for home composts.

grilling mats

I’ll end with a little note about grill mats. I don’t imagine anyone wanting to spend time cleaning greasy, torn aluminum foil from the grill. It would most likely go in the trash anyway. That’s why reusable, fireproof mats can be a better choice for the grill.

Be careful, however, with what grill mat you choose. Most of them are fiberglass cloth (plastic resin with embedded glass fibers) covered with a Teflon-like coating (also plastic). They have the potential to release toxins at high temperatures into the air or into your food. They should be used with care [2].

Go for the copper mats over the fiberglass ones, or try your hand at some aromatic wood grilling planks, like cedar or hickory. Otherwise, a bare grate will a little extra cleanup might be your best bet.