EcoJarz: Turn Your Old Jars Into Travel Mugs

If you're like me, and most people that call themselves treehuggers eco-friendly, you probably try to reuse a lot of household items. A favorite, is using glass jars as drinking glasses.

Now, what if you could use those glasses outside the home? Take them to work with your morning smoothie? Use them outdoors at a picnic?

"But what if it spills in my car?" and "What about all the bugs outside?"

In comes, EcoJarz.

This lid and straw system, turns many common jars into to-go cups.

I thought this was brilliant! I take a smoothie to work every morning, so I knew I'd get use out of it. So, I recently ordered myself a set of 3 stainless steel Eco Jarz lids, rings, and metal straws.

How it works? Pretty simple. You clean out a glass jar; whether it's from peanut butter or mayonnaise (Vegenaise in my case). Then you put on the Eco Jarz lid (it has a silicone ring on the bottom, to create a nice seal), put on outer ring and tighten. Put in the straw. Ta-dah!

Note: If you are using old canning jars, and still have the metal rings, you do not need to purchase more.

Now that I've been using mine for a month or so, here are the cons, followed by the pros.

Cons:

1. They didn't fit most of the jars I had. What I've found is that most of my food jars, aren't considered 'standard' size. Some are too small, others are far too big. (However, EcoJarz DOES now sell a "wide mouth" lid, if you know you want to use them on larger jars.)
2. The downside of metal straws, is that you can't see when they're truly clean inside. It's a best guess scenario.
3. The cleaner/brush that comes with the straws is very hard to use. I mean, not conceptually. It's basically a pipe-cleaner with hard bristles. But it's a veeeery snug fit, and you could easily rip up your hands trying to move the brush in and out of the straw. I found the easiest thing was to grab the end of the brush with a towel; to give myself better grip.

My morning vegan PB&J smoothie.

Pros:

1. It's so easy! I mean, once you have a couple jars that fit with the lid, it's not exactly complicated to use. The lids themselves are also super easy to clean. Usually a good rinse with hot water is all you'll need.
2. You get to be eco-cool just by using it. That's right. People will ask you, "What is THAT?" "Where did you get it?" "That's so neat!" Believe it or not, jars are "in" right now.
3. You don't care if it's "in" .. It's eco-friendly! Because, let's face it, we run out of uses for all these jars. You can only use so many to store buttons and cotton balls. Giving them a second or third life, is always great. And you don't have to panic if they break. Just move the lid to another one. Lastly, it comes in eco-packaging, or better yet, you can request it be sent to you with no retail packaging.
4. Affordable. Right now, each lid runs around $8. Pretty reasonable when compared to other travel mugs/tumblers. And since you can move the same one from jar to jar, you're likely to get more use out of it.

All in all, definitely glad I purchased it. The lid is much easier to clean that my other plastic tumblers, it looks rather 'mod' sitting on my desk every morning, and it's a conversation starter about being eco-conscious.

Get yours at EcoJarz.com