Tag Archives: green

It was the head bonk heard ’round the world.

I was in the first grade.  Thor*, a boy in my class, hit me in the arm…hard.  So I hit him back. In the head.

With my red plaid metal lunch box.

He ran home and cried to his mother.  She called my mom — damn small towns — and said, “Thor only hit Carla because he likes her.”

And that’s when I learned what a hit in the arm really means.

Love pats like that got metal lunch boxes banned in the 1970′s.  But they’re making a comeback today, thanks to some clever local green initiatives.

On Earth Day, Lulu’s Noodle Shop in Kansas City introduced a pinto pail program for to-go orders.  (Pinto pails are stackable metal lunch boxes used in Thailand.)

For customers who agree to a one-time $30 fee (to cover the cost of the pinto, which is shipped from Thailand), meals are packed and delivered in the pail, which keeps food hot for about an hour.  Customers must then return the pinto — washed, rinsed and dried — in exchange for their next order which will be delivered in another pail.

The press release from Lulu’s encourages guests to participate and “cut down on landfill waste of traditional packaging, thus saving the Earth one meal at a time.”

Looks like it could do some damage, too.  Watch out, Thor.  I know where you live.

* Name changed to protect the guilty