Some of you may have heard of bento before, most of you probably not. Bento lunches are a Japanese style of packing lunches in plastic, lacquer, or wooden boxes in an artistic manner.

These bento boxes are sometimes disposable, but mostly they are reusable lunch boxes. In Hawaii, people tend to eat what we call "plate lunches" and they come in the typical styrofoam containers. This obviously generates TONS of waste. By packing home lunches in bento boxes, you reduce the amount of waste, make use of your leftovers, and with the small size of the boxes, you usually eat smaller portions.

I have a blog about bento if people want to check it out at aibento.net. Another great site is lunchinabox.net.

I've never heard of this, it's very interesting and a good idea for helping the environment. Thanks for the ideas and sites!