Planning a graduation party, family reunion, or just a backyard barbecue with a few friends? Grill up a tasty feast without the big carbon footprint.

If you’re planning a Memorial Day cookout, big or small, you’re probably tempted to reach for the old standbys: paper plates, plastic cutlery, canned beverages, and packaged meats. Unfortunately, along with ease and convenience, these American barbecue staples come with a lot of unnecessary waste and negative environmental impacts.

With a little planning and some flexibility, you can plan a gorgeous cookout with delicious food that won’t leave you with a big case of eco-guilt. Here are some tips that will get you started.

Skip The Charcoal Briquettes

Sure, they’re available at just about every grocery store, but that cheap charcoal isn’t as innocent as it seems. “Burning charcoal or wood produces clouds of sooty particles that can lodge in lungs, irritating asthma and other respiratory problems,” writes Brian Howard for the Daily Green. “Carcinogenic volatile organic compounds like benzene are released. The whole mess can contribute to smog.”

Instead, grab a bag of lump or ‘natural charcoal’ which is made from hardwood, contains no additives, and produces less ash when burned than briquettes. You’ll still get that smoky sear you want, without worrying about lighter fluid soaking into your food. Check out the 365 brand of real hardwood charcoal available at Whole Foods.

Opt For Non-Plastic Plates & Flatware

It may feel great, just tossing all the used plates and forks into the trash when the barbecue’s over, but the few minutes you save are doing years of harm to the planet. In addition to being a waste of money, disposable dishes and cutlery contribute to the mountain of plastic waste already swirling around in our landfills and oceans.

If you’re cooking out in your own backyard, simply use the plates, cups, and traditional cutlery in your kitchen. If that’s not viable, choose reusable plastic options, such as Recycline’s Preserve Tableware, or compostable alternatives made from bamboo or sugar cane. Check out the Sustainable Earth line of compostable cutlery offered at Staples.

Choose Local Meat & Produce

Around the country, many farmers markets and CSAs are gearing up for the summer season. Plan to visit your local market the weekend before your cookout. Load up on grassfed beef, and delicious fruits and veggies that were likely grown by the same person who rings up your order. Many farmers markets even offer locally made cheeses, breads, salsas, and sauces. If you’re planning a potluck affair, email a list of market vendors to your guests, and encourage them to choose their contribution from a local artisan. Check out www.localharvest.org to find a farmers market or CSA near you, and browse Ecosalon’s Top 10 Picnic Foods.

Bring Better Beverages

Sure, it’s easy to buy a couple of cases of soda and cheap domestic beer, dump them into the cooler and call it a day. Americans discard about 2.7 million tons of aluminum each year, mostly in the form of beverage containers. Only around 50 percent get recycled, so that’s a lot of usable metal heading to the landfill. If possible, make large batches of lemonade, iced tea, or punch in pitchers or glass jars that have an easy pour spigot.

For the adults, choose local and/or organic beers in a keg (no waste!), or if you’re not planning on drinking that much, in glass bottles. Glass is one of the few materials that can be recycled infinitely without losing strength, purity or quality. Set up a special barrel where your guests can deposit their empty bottles, so they can be easily recycled when the party’s over. Check out the Organic Authority’s guide to choosing eco-friendly beer.

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The post How To Plan An Eco-Friendly Barbecue appeared first on EcoSalon.

Charcoal strictly defined is “dark grey residue consisting of impure carbon obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from animal and vegetation substances.” That and it looks like coal. So yes, perhaps when one is thinking about eco-friendly things on this Earth, charcoal probably doesn’t leap to the forefront of our brains. Dolphins playing with dogs, maybe. But what falls out of our camp fires looking like it’s from a coal mine? Not so much.

Nonetheless, charcoal seems to be the ingredient du jour. As one anonymous ecofashionista shares, “I see charcoal in candles, foot pads, soaps and scrubs, and always called eco. But isn’t charcoal – coal? More to the point, how the heck can charcoal be eco-friendly and safe?”

We went straight to a soap maker to get answers. Tracy Perkins is the founder and soap artisan of Strawberry Hedgehog, offering up vegan, green bath and body products. Her soaps are hand crafted from natural plant-based ingredients. Perkins “never uses artificial fragrances, dyes or preservatives – only 100 percent essential oils, food grade natural extracts, pure minerals and whole herbs or spices for naturally beautiful fragrance, color, and texture.” But as it turns out, she uses bamboo in her detox soap.

Here’s how this is possible. As Tracy tells it, “Charcoal is not necessarily eco, but it is naturally detoxifying. In order to create charcoal, you have to char some sort of wood material which in itself releases CO2 while using the wood as a fuel. It can be more eco-friendly if you use a more sustainable wood source, like bamboo, which re-grows rapidly. Also, opting for organic bamboo eliminates the impact of synthetic pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, and so on.”

But is it truly eco? As Tracy shares, “Charcoal is traditionally used internally and topically to draw out toxins. I don’t necessarily think it is eco, but I do think it counters the poisons we ingest, slather on, and breathe every day.”

Skin Deep, the cosmetic database of the Environmental Working Group, gives activated charcoal a zero, the lowest hazard rating possible. This means that as far as they can tell, there is no link to cancer, developmental/reproductive toxicity, or allergies. There are some data gaps in their information, but this still does not nudge its ranking.

So charcoal as an external product – not so bad. But some people take it internally. As this one supplement claims, “activated charcoal (also known as carbon) neutralizes every toxin, including heavy metal toxins.” I asked Mary Vance, holistic nutritionist, what she thought about charcoal as a supplement. According to Mary, “activated charcoal has a pretty strong action in the body: it works as a magnet to pull anything that’s sitting in the gut out before it is absorbed in the bloodstream.”

Charcoal is recommended by some medical doctors in case of poisoning, and Mary agrees. According to Mary, “It is good to have around a house with children in the case of accidental poisoning.” But as a supplement? “As for use in detox products, I don’t really recommend it unless you are under the supervision of a practitioner. There are other, better products to use to help the body detox – such as extra fiber to bind to toxins.”

To read more from Tracy Perkins, check out our interview. And to read more from Mary Vance, click here.

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