In 2017, registered nutritionist Rouvè Hembling was troubled by the amount of plastic waste used in the kitchen: thus, the first Your Green Kitchen bowl cover was born.

Based out of Nakusp, BC, Your Green Kitchen (YGK) now has five employees who hand-sew and screen print all YGK products. These bowl covers are perfect for protecting your resting dough, keeping your produce fresh, fermenting or covering dishes on the dinner table. They are also a great quick fix when you’re all out of reusable containers (or energy to find that pesky lid). Just slap a bowl cover over your leftovers for an easy zero waste storage solution!

Our favourite thing about these nifty bowl covers? Your Green Kitchen uses only GOTS Certified cotton in all their products.

What is GOTS?

GOTS stands for the Global Organic Textile Standard. GOTS is recognized as the world's leading processing standard for textiles, and can apply to clothing, home textiles, personal care products and food contact textiles made from certified organically produced raw materials. To meet GOTS standards, companies must meet strict environment and social criteria for operations along the entire textile supply chain. GOTS is recognized in all markets around the globe and the numbers are growing; in 2019 more than 7,700 facilities were certified GOTS.

Why choose GOTS?

The ugly truth behind the textiles industry is that it uses an incredible amount of pesticides. Dangerous chemicals are often improperly disposed of and can end up in our air and waterways. According to EcoWatch, while only 2.4 per cent of the world's cropland is planted with cotton, these crops consume 10% of all agricultural chemicals and 25% of insecticides.

While having pesticides on our clothes doesn’t seem as alarming as pesticides on our food, pesticides sprayed on textile crops can have tragic effects on farmers, factory workers and the surrounding ecosystem. According to the UN, 200,000 acute poisoning deaths occur each year as a result of pesticide exposure.

Not only does GOTS have a mission to reduce environmental harm, but they also have a set of social criteria based off the standards of the International Labour Organization (ILO), United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which must be met in all areas of the chain from processing, to manufacturing, to trade.

While the social and environmental impacts of our necessities can seem overwhelming, there are great organizations out there working hard to make a difference. Knowing that Your Green Kitchen’s cotton is GOTS certified gives us peace of mind and a boost of motivation to continue to find sustainably and ethically sourced goods.

Interested in trying out bowl covers?