It’s peak roasting and baking season, which means more crispy eggplant and ginger cake—yay!—and 2 small swaps to warm your tummy without warming the planet.

Every year, we toss over 1.5 million tons of aluminum foil into landfills, where it takes about 500 years to decompose. Some gets recycled, but that’s not guaranteed—especially sheets still covered in food or oil. And while we can definitely rinse and reuse the shiny stuff, it’s not the most durable material, and soon starts to rip. Meanwhile, 1 roll costs about $10, which is not cheap!

So instead of coating your baking sheets and roasting pans with aluminum foil, try investing in a silicone version, a non-toxic ceramic pan, or even coating your bare regular pan with coconut oil. Most new pans cost about $20-30, so you’ll recoup the cost pretty fast—especially if you’re testing roasted miso carrot recipes on the regular.

But what about when you’re baking a cake or casserole, and you’re supposed to cover the dish in foil? Placing one of your metal baking trays, or even a metal pot lid, over your food does the exact same thing.
You save money. You save waste. Your food still tastes amazing. Triple win! Now go send your audition tape to Great British Bake Off—we’ll be rooting for you.