Stop Before You Pop: An Exposé on Sustainable Popcorn Making

We’ve all been there: waiting eagerly as the final seconds tick down on the microwave timer, the pleasant little pops are few and far between, and the aroma of freshly-popped popcorn is wafting tantalizingly in the air. Upon hearing the long-awaited beep beep beep signaling the popcorn’s completion, we snatch the bag out, careful not to burn ourselves as we pour the contents into a bowl and tromp out to resume our position on the couch, a movie queued and ready to go.

In the frivolity of popcorn, it can be all too easy to simply overlook the waste we generate. However, as with most products of convenience, microwave popcorn has an underlying dark side of wastefulness. From the cardboard box the bags are packaged in, to the plastic that wraps each individual bag, to the bags themselves, microwave popcorn leaves much to be desired in the realm of sustainability.

Luckily for us zero-waste warriors out there, there exists more sustainable alternatives that allow us to have our popcorn and eat it too, free from the single-use, throwaway culture that pervades much of our lives today.

The first of these alternatives is the classic stove-top popping option. All you need is a stove top, a pot, some oil, and, of course, kernels. You heat the oil, add the kernels, cover the pot, and allow the kernels to pop over the heat. It’s a simple process, and although it takes about 10 minutes to prep and pop (admittedly longer than the average 2-3 minute microwave popcorn timeline), it has the added benefit of allowing you to customize your popcorn in the type of oil and seasonings you use.

A simple internet search of “how to make stove-top popcorn” will yield a myriad of easy to follow instructions and popcorn recipes. For your convenience and as a good starting point, I recommend checking out Elise Bauer’s Perfect Popcorn recipe.

For those of you who feel put off and disenfranchised by this 10-minute endeavor that produces an oily pot to clean, or for those of you in staunch support of utilizing a microwave, you can invest in a $14-$16 silicone air popper, such as the Colonel Popper . This product is available on Amazon, but I would recommend checking your local kitchen supply store in the hopes of shopping locally before ordering online.

I ordered this popper as a gift for my popcorn-loving dad back in June. Having since returned home, I have used it on multiple occasions with great success. Using a silicone air popper, such as the Colonel Popper, entails measuring out an amount of kernels, mixing those kernels in oil or  melted butter (I always choose butter), adding salt or other seasonings as desired, dumping the kernels/butter/seasoning into the popper, covering with the lid, and putting the whole thing in the microwave for about 3 minutes. You can eat the finished product right out of the bowl and then simply give it a wash‒no waste needed!

In addition to reducing waste in utilizing reusable pots / silicone poppers as opposed to single-use, plastic-encased bags, stove top or air popper alternatives have the added benefit of offering kernels packaged in recyclable containers. As with most products, buying kernels in bulk is the most sustainable, and often most economical, option. I happened to have Orville Redenbacher kernels on hand, and have been enjoying them just fine. Best of all, when I’m done I can recycle the container they came in. However, sourcing local kernels in glass or reusable containers is a step better. Even better than that, you could endeavor to grow your own popcorn kernels for ultimate self-sufficiency.

For an astonishingly thorough review of different brands of kernels, check out Food Shark Marfa’s Best Popcorn Kernels.

I was unable to find hard facts on the exact amount of waste generated from microwave popcorn each year. However, according to The Popcorn Institute, which promotes and performs 85% of all popcorn sales within the US, Americans consume 15 billion quarts of popcorn annually. With the invention of microwave popcorn in the 1980s and more than 80% of US households currently owning microwaves, one can assume that a significant amount of household popcorn is coming from microwave popcorn bags, thereby generating massive amounts of non-recyclable waste in the process.


In writing this week’s post on popcorn, my hope was not to diminish people’s zest for and consumption of this tasty, nutritious treat, but to instead promote more sustainable popping practices. Ultimately, in addition to reducing waste, popping your own corn is much less expensive and often healthier (microwave popcorn bags are lined with chemicals that have some substantial and as-of-yet unknown health impacts), than buying microwave popcorn or even pre-popped bags of popcorn, making it a win-win-win for your wallet, health, and our planet.

So, the next time you find yourself hankering for some popcorn, try these home-popping, lower waste alternatives. As always, let me know how it goes in the comments section below, and best of luck on your journey toward greener living.

~Sam