So you know how kids eat ALL THE TIME? And how you always have half a dozen different snacks in your purse just in case someone decides to throw a low-sugar meltdown in the middle of Target? Because if you don’t have snacks you have to abandon your cart full of super-necessary-and-useful stuff you found on clearance AND you don’t get to stop at Starbucks on the way out and now your whole life is ruined forever?

Yeah, that sucks. Which is why you need snacks.

One of the drawbacks of all those snacks is all those plastic sandwich baggies. The non-recyclable, ugly plastic sandwich baggies that end up in the trash even if you rinse them out several times because they’re just not made to be used over and over. So of course someone came up with a better solution:

Oh hai, I'm adorable and eco-friendly.

My sandwich is stylish in this LBaggie!

Enjoying Goldfishes at the fireworks display last week. Baby Evan loves eating stuff out of the bags - crackers, fruit, sandwiches - and they're so easy to just wipe out and use again.

More about LBaggies:

Our fun and colorful baggies are great for snacks, sandwiches, and just about anything!
We make our baggies with a 100% cotton print outer (we also have 100% organic cotton choices) and a waterproof inner (PU coated nylon). Lbaggies are food safe and free of lead, phlalates, BPA, and PVC.

Lbaggies come in two sizes: snack (6 in. x 6 in.) and sandwich (7 in. x 7 in.) and have a snap closure. We find snaps work better than aplix/velcro so you don’t get all those icky crumbs stuck in the closure. And you won’t smoosh your sandwich snapping them closed- just pinch the fabric from the outside to snap together.

Wash instructions: turn inside out to wipe/rinse clean, or machine wash.

A bunch of the moms in my Stroller Strides class (do you see a trend here of how easily I am influenced by the cool stuff my friends have?) ordered these from LoveyBums. Of course, then I wanted some too, and because I like sharing I asked if Pam would be interested in sending an extra bag so I could pass it on to you.

Since she is awesome and super nice, she sent four!

For you!

(That blue one with the flowers is my FAVORITE pattern. Let me tell you how hard I fought with my conscience on keeping it for myself.) There are tons of other cute pattern available if you want to buy some yourself:

The mermaids are a close second for my favorite. Or maybe the animals. Heck, I'll take them all.

FREE STUFF ALERT!!! Do YOU want one of the sets pictured above (includes one sandwich size and one snack size)? I’ll draw two winners – the first one gets dibs on whichever set they want and runner up gets the other.

To enter – just leave a comment! It doesn’t have to be brilliant, but make sure I know you’re not spam.

Contest is open to anyone who has a mailing address. I just hope my sister in Africa doesn’t win, shipping there is ridiculous. But you can enter if you want Carolyn! Entries must be received by midnight on August 5th to be considered. Winner announced on Friday morning. GIVEAWAY CLOSED!

NEW! Pam sent me a coupon code to share with you! Enter BEBEHBLOG at checkout to get 20% off your baggie order!

Disclosure: Pam from LoveyBums sent me 6 bags total for this post. I kept two to review (total value: $13) and I am personally mailing the other four to the winners at my own expense. Because I love you. My opinions and review are totally my own and were not influenced by free stuff.

In the never ending battle between my growing green crunchiness and E’s epic laziness, the one thing we usually agree on in recycling. Tossing a milk jug into the recycle bin takes exactly the same amount of effort as throwing it in the trash and since Connecticut gives charges us a deposit on soda cans we’re militant about dragging those down to the Stop & Shop for our nickels. I feel pretty good about our efforts, even if the occasional peanut butter jar does end up in the trash (they’re really hard to clean).

Unfortunately, just like in most towns, there’s a limit on what sort of materials they accept. Which is why when TerraCycle emailed about their program I was so excited! TerraCycle is a small (but growing!) company that takes normally non-recyclable products and turns them into cool and useful stuff.

In 2001, Tom Szaky, a Princeton University Freshman, founded TerraCycle in hopes of building an eco-capitalist company built on waste. After winning countless business plan contests, Tom dropped out of Princeton to pursue his dream of founding the world’s most environmentally friendly company. Seven years later, TerraCycle’s eco-friendly products have received a myriad of social and environmental accolades and are sold at major retailers like The Home Depot, Target, Wal*Mart and Whole Foods Markets. TerraCycle’s business plan and products made from waste received a Zerofootprint Seal of Approval, won The Home Depot’s Environmental Stewardship Award twice and recently won the 2007 Social Venture Network Innovation Award. Please visit us at www.terracycle.net to learn more.

So what exactly do they do? Well, they collect trash – everything from drink pouches and plastic diaper packaging to corks and Scotch tape – and turn it into usable products. Their newest partnerships are with Huggies and Sprout but they have programs for tons of other non-recyclables too. TerraCycle collects each kind of trash through groups called “brigades” and even pays for the shipping and donates money to charity for each item received, totaling more than a million dollars so far!

Unfortunately, there isn’t a way to join a brigade already in progress so I’m hoping to convince a local school or childcare program to set up a collection with us. (On that note, if you’re a local school or a childcare program, please email me.)

Even if you can’t help collect the trash you can still help by buying the trash – after it’s turned into cool stuff of course. Shopping for the environment! Everybody wins!

Know anyone going (back) to school in a few months?

It's like Lisa Frank for the eco-friendly era! Rainbows included!!

And today, because they’re such nice people, TerraCycle is giving one of my readers some of their cute stuff! I’m told there’s a big Capri Sun tote bag (diaper bag sized), a Kool-Aid Jammers lunch box, and a Capri Sun pencil case waiting to be sent right to your house. That’s right, I’m doing a GIVEAWAY.

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this post telling me how you and your family try to recycle or Terracycle.

For one extra entry you can tweet (leave another comment telling me you did) the following: Tell @TerraCycle and @bebehblog why you TerraCycle or recycle and win a lunch box made from juice pouches! http://bit.ly/9QZUyA #TCbebeh

Entries are open until midnight on July 22nd. CLOSED. Winner will be selected using random.org and announced on July 23rd, 2010. Please make sure you use a real email address when commenting so I can let you know if you won! Sorry my Canadian friends, US residents only. Good luck!

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Disclosure: All opinions are my own. I received no compensation or goods in exchange for this post – YOU’RE the only one getting the free stuff. I just thought it was a great program and wanted to share!