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Retooling at Home Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | Apr. 14, 2009 | IN PRINT 
Home and housewares show promotes gadgets that can help consumers save money, environment
You're staying home more, entertaining more there (potlucks, dinner parties, cocktails), spending less on lattés and lunches out. Being green is important to you - but you won't pay a lot for it (or anything else, for that matter).
This is the America envisioned by organizers of the International Home and Housewares Show, held last month in Chicago's mammoth McCormick Place. "The overriding trend is for products that help consumers save money - whether by eliminating services or entertaining and dining at home more," says Lisa Casey Weiss, lifestyle consultant with the International Housewares Association, the show's sponsor. "Consumers have returned to a back-to-the-basics philosophy. They're looking at things that are more centered around the home." If they've given up dining out on the town, they may be willing to spring for a tool or gadget that makes home entertaining better, she adds. Purveyors of products at the show would like to help - with everything from dinnerware made from fallen palm leaves to better ways to store leftovers. With more than 2,000 exhibitors and 13 miles of aisles, the show is billed as the world's biggest housewares marketplace. Finding what's new and useful is a little like looking for a pizza cutter in a haystack. Here's a look at a few products that got some buzz. Most can be found where housewares are sold, including Kohl's, Boston Store, Target and amazon.com...
Safer skillets, greener platesMeanwhile, a skillet war seems to be brewing over who has the greenest pans. Starfrit claims to have the only "truly green pan" with its Alternative Cookware collection of nonstick pans, made from 99% recycled aluminum. The nonstick coating is "ceramic powder obtained from the Earth." A nine-piece set sells for $249.95; individual pieces start at $42. Epoca, the talking coffeemaker people, rolled out its Ecolution line of nonstick cookware, using easily recycled aluminum as a base. It's free of toxic elements known as PFOA found in other nonstick cookware, the makers say. The line also comes with instructions on how to recycle their old cookware. In other green scene news, there's VerTerra Dinnerware ($4.99 to $7.99), made from fallen palm leaves that are pressed into contemporary looking plates, bowls and trays. These single-use dishes are microwave safe and will naturally biodegrade in two months after disposal. They're made at the firm's plant in India. "Our process uses only steam, heat and pressure," says Josh Parker, chief operating officer at VerTerra. "All-natural, there are no chemicals, bonding agents, glues, lacquers or plastics of any kind." Lunch and dinner plates come in packs of eight, and prices vary by location. Lifetime Brands proclaims the dawn of a new era in green kitchenware with its EcoLife line of tools, gadgets and cutting boards. They're made from Nexplast, a blend of 30% plastic and 70% renewable plant starches. The production process means less carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases, Lifetime says. Cutting boards run $7.99 to $17.99. Kitchen tools and gadgets run from $3.99 to $19.99.
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