In Search of the Green Cookout

from Birchware's Amazon.com store cost $9.99 for 100 It's become somewhat easier to buy goods for singling what might be called the opt-out cookout at mainstream stores. Wal-Mart sells recycled aluminum foil, Target offers lightweight bamboo items perfects for picnics, Costco has additive-free charcoal briquets, and Whole Foods Market stores carry everything from grass-fed beef to compostable bowls to chemical-free bug repellent.

Still, recycled beige napkins don't have the same oomph as bright red ones, and grass-fed beef hamburgers don't have the fatty flavor American taste buds have grown used to. There's also the eco-price tag: products made from green materials like bamboo or recycled paper often cost much more than conventional items. It is easy to spend twice as much buying products for an opt-out cookout as for a conventional one.

Compostable forks, right, from Birchware's Amazon.com store cost $9.99 for 100, pricier than generic plastic forks, left. Even the professionals are discovering there's a learning curve to planning a green cookout. The small Colorado ski resort of Frisco has been striving for a more eco-friendly approach at town events. At its 17th annual Colorado BBQ Challenge last month, the town for the first time required all 80 plus vendors to use only service items that could be composted or recycled. About 35,000 people came to the event, says singling Suzanne Lifgren, the town's director of marketing and communications.