Wooden kitchen items have a rustic charm that a plastic bowl simply can't compete with. It's just a shame that they're also far more expensive.
Not so for one Redditor, who stumbled on an incredible discount in a thrift store. In a photo posted to the r/ThriftStoreHauls subreddit, they showed off their new 11-inch salad bowl from The Great Alaskan Bowl Company, which cost them a mere $1.
Those bowls don't usually come so cheap; this one's original market price was $119.
It's not hard to see why. The wood comes in a rich hue with the knots and grain still visible, and it's been sanded down to an enviable smoothness.
"Just in time for Big Salad Season," the Redditor wrote in a caption.
Wooden bowls don't just look good. They're also much healthier for you to keep in your kitchen than plastic bowls.
Items made out of plastic, such as bottles, home furnishings, and carpet fibers, shed microplastics into the air in our homes, which we then breathe in.
Microplastics have been linked to declining sperm counts, brain toxicity, and potentially some cancers.
When we are done with our plastic bowls, it is highly unlikely that they will be properly recycled. Only a tenth of all the plastic ever produced has been recycled once, and 1% has been recycled twice.
Trashed plastic bowls are more likely to end up in a landfill, where they can take hundreds of years to decompose.
The Great Alaskan Bowl Company's wooden bowls, by contrast, are biodegradable.
The company also says that it has a low to zero waste manufacturing facility, meaning that it uses up or gives away nearly all the wood and sawdust from manufacturing.
Some Redditors in the comments said that the company leaves discarded logs outside its facilities for locals to collect for their own uses, including making planters.
In 2021, The Great Alaskan Bowl Company pledged to plant a tree for every bowl that it makes, with the goal of planting 10,000 trees in its first year in aid of reforestation.
Deforestation is a pressing issue around the world and at home. The U.S. lost 4.22 million acres of forest in 2021, which contributed the equivalent of 775 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
By buying this wooden bowl secondhand from a company that already attempts to cultivate wood sustainably, this thrifty Redditor has maximized their low-impact lifestyle.
"I had no idea those retailed for so much. It's a beautiful bowl, congratulations!" wrote one Redditor.
"Great find! I'm a little jealous on this one," another added.
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