Green grill guide

Barbecue season has officially begun for most Torontonians. Finally! Like many things we do in our daily lives, there are ways to make your summer barbeque party lighter on the planet - from your choice of grill and fuel to what you cook and what you use to eat it. Granted, a single grill probably isn’t going to ruin the environment, but when millions of people opt to cook outside, the impact can really add up. Check out our tips for greening your backyard parties this year.

Traditional charcoal briquettes give off more carbon monoxide, particulate matter, coal dust and other additives than other grilling methods and contain a number of unhealthy ingredients including borax, sodium nitrates and benzopyrene. If you’d rather not part with the smoky flavor produced from grilling with charcoal, use natural lump coal instead of briquettes, which burns cleaner, hotter and longer. Quebec-based Basques Charcoal is made with limbs and logs harvested as part of a government reforestation program that do not meet lumber and sawmill specifications (which means no trees are expressly cut for charcoal). Cowboy Charcoal, available at Lowe’s stores nationwide, is 100% natural, with no coals, fillers, or chemicals. Whole Foods “365” brand of hardwood charcoal is made from scrap wood from furniture manufacturers and is free of coal, fillers or additives. Kothur charcoal makes briquettes from carbonized coconut shells, so no trees or branches are used in their production. Coconut shell briquettes burn hotter, last longer and burn evenly without smoke, odor or toxic gas. Plus, natural and coconut charcoal mean less ash, so clean-up is minimal. Steer clear of self-lighting briquettes, which are saturated with petroleum.

Spark your grill with an electric fire starter. Lighter fluid is made from harmful petroleum distallates (a non-renewable resource) that emit VOCs, contributing to ground-level ozone. Canadian Tire sells a universal electric igniter kit for $16.99 , or check out the Looftlighter Electric Barbeque Lighter from The Cow Shed.

If you’re in the market for a new grill, consider a cast iron, stainless steel or porcelain-coated natural-gas or liquid propane barbeque, which allow you to save extra energy from being wasted before or after cooking, when charcoal versions would be heating up or cooling down. Ceramic barbeques, called kamado (Japanese for stove), work by trapping heat inside thick clay walls to cook food with a hot, humid smoke. Kamado-style cookers are especially “green” since they draw less air, therefore using less charcoal. The Big Green Egg is fast lighting and can be used year-round, or choose wood, gas or electricity to power your Kamado Barbeque to smoke, broil, bake or grill.

To be truly green, consider a solar oven or stove to avoid emissions altogether. Sun Baked is a great resource for info about environmentally sustainable, pollution free solar cooking appliances and accessories.

Save energy by turning down your barbecue to minimum after its initial warm up, closing the lid (if you have one) during cooking to conserve heat and using the whole cooking surface to maximize efficiency.

Add extra veggies to your backyard menu. The environmental impacts of a meat-based diet are wide-reaching and potentially disastrous. According to scientists at the Smithsonian, the equivalent of seven football fields is bulldozed every minute to create more room for farmed animals and the crops required to feed them. Producing just over two pounds of beef creates more greenhouse gas emissions than driving a car or leaving your house lights on for three hours. Decreasing your meat intake and increasing the number of vegetable-based meals you consume significantly reduces your environmental footprint. If you’re hankering for a steak, grill organic, hormone-free meat and combine it with veggies and wild fish.

Set your picnic table with reusable dishware, flatware and cloth linens. If that’s not feasible, look for biodegradable, compostable or recycled-paper dinnerware, unbleached cups and recycled-paper napkins. Pick up a few sets of bamboo utensils from Grassroots in Toronto. Bamboo is one of the earth’s most sustainable crops, harvested from controlled stands with an astounding growth cycle of three to five years. Aspenware also makes environmental friendly cutlery. WUN (Wooden Utensils Naturally), developed by three shop teachers from Nelson, BC, are a beautiful, all-natural alternative to adding to the millions of plastic forks, knives and spoons that end up in landfills. Not only does Aspenware make a biodegradable product from a renewal resource harvested on a small scale, they try to optimize the use of traditionally overlooked aspen and birch harvested using good forestry practices or purchasing from already harvested materials. The company cranks out 30,000 pieces of cutlery per day using hydroelectric power with minimal carbon emissions. Lightly coated with non-toxic confectioner’s glaze, the pieces hardly seem disposable.

Seventh Generation napkins made from 100% recycled (90% post-consumer) unbleached fibre are a planet-friendly alternative if organic cotton or bamboo serviettes are not an option.

Excess cans, bottles and packaging are often a problem after a party or picnic. To avoid extra waste, confirm how many people are coming to your event in advance, buy fruit and vegetables loose with no packaging and recycle leftover bottles and cans.

Share these tips with family and friends and kick off your greenest summer yet. Cheers!