Grace Anderson is an eco-warrior and has taken full advantage of her school holiday time to create some environmentally friendly food packaging products.
Grace (a 13 year old student from Northwest Sydney) has experimented with her own beeswax wraps and has produced marvellous results. You can find the ingredients and method below.
“We use too much single-use plastic and the effects on the environment are detrimental,” says Grace, whose passion for environmental activism was ignited by the ABCs production of War on Waste.
“We have a massive waste problem,” she added. This is confirmed by the current statistics that an estimated 5 trillion pieces of plastic currently litter the ocean, 20,000 plastic bottles are bought every second around the globe and 99% of seabirds will have swallowed plastic by 2050.
One of the core values of Grace’s school is stewardship (care for the environment, care for others and care for yourself).
“Our school has a strong focus on stewardship and the environment. One person making beeswax wraps may seem small, but sometimes just doing a simple action and encouraging others to do the same can help save our common home.”
Grace experimented with different recipes for beeswax wraps and the results are incredible!
Ingredients list:
- 100% cotton, fair trade fabric in the sizes
- Fabric scissors
- 40g of pure beeswax
- Grater
- Large sized baking tray
- Paint brush
- Greaseproof paper
- Oven mitt
Method:
- Preheat your oven to 150 degrees Celsius.
- Cut the cotton fabric into 30x30cm, 27x25cm and 15x15cm squares with fabric scissors.
- Grate pure beeswax (on a fine grater that is NOT used for food preparation) into a mason jar.
- Line the baking tray with greaseproof paper and place the cotton squares on top.
- Sprinkle the grated beeswax evenly on top of the cotton squares.
- Place the tray into the oven for 2 minutes to allow the wax to melt.
- Take the tray out of the oven (using a mitt).
- Spread the melted wax gently across the fabric using a clean paintbrush and allow to dry.
- Repeat steps 5-8 a second time if a double coat is required.
- Place the wraps in a dry space to dry for 24-48 hours before use.
Congratulations Grace for inspiring hope through your actions and caring for our shared environment.
JGIA acknowledges the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of this nation. We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the lands and pay our respects to ancestors and Elders, past and present.