Why You Should Never Throw Away Wax Cheese Wrappers

If you are looking for ways to be more eco-friendly and save money in the process, you have probably already done the basics like recycling plastic bottles, reusing bags, and reducing your use of one-off plastics and papers altogether. There are many ways to reduce how much trash you put into a landfill, like using refillable water bottles or taking along reusable bags to the grocery store, rather than using plastic bags in the store. In fact, some stores, like Costco, won't even use plastic shopping bags.

These tips and tricks are also great ways to reduce how much you spend. For example, refilling a water bottle is cheaper over the years than constantly buying bottles of water. You can also save money (and reduce waste) by saving food leftovers and using washable storage bowls, rather than plastic bags, to store them in. But did you know that you may be creating waste — and wasting money — with your cheese? There are several reasons you should not just toss away your wax cheese paper.

One reason to not throw away your wax cheese paper, like the kind you get with Babybel cheese, is because it's not compostable. According to Fun With Hobbies, it's made from a petroleum derivative and it can take 70-400 years for this type of wax to biodegrade. This can pose challenges to those who enjoy the cheese but want to stay environmentally friendly. Of course, this isn't the only type of wax paper that cheese comes in.

According to Treehugger, wax paper, like what deli-sliced cheese is often wrapped in (not to be confused with parchment paper), can't be recycled and it also takes years to break down in a landfill. You can, however, dispose of it in other ways, including cleaning and reusing it. This type of wax paper can also be rubbed on metal to remove limescale spots, lubricate garden tools, and loosen zippers, and it can also be used in arts and crafts.

If you are a cheese lover who enjoys having a lot of cheese around for snacking and various cheese recipes, you already know that keeping the cheese in the wax wrapper it came in will help it stay good for much longer. If you buy cheese that hasn't come in that wax wrapper, you can use the wax paper from other cheese. Just make sure you wash and thoroughly dry the paper before reusing it. Food & Wine says not to soak the paper, though, because it will dissolve if it gets too wet. 

Want to have cheese paper on-hand at all times? You can buy sheets of wax paper for storing cheese. Cheese Grotto warns that cheese paper, like the wax paper a lot of cheese comes in, does degrade after around a month or so, making them less effective. This means they can also leave bits of wax on your food. Formaticum says that once you notice butterfat stains in the wax paper, you need to throw it away.