There's nothing like a picnic. Maybe it's because summer evenings seem to last forever, or because food always tastes better outdoors.

Nature, however, doesn't always appreciate a picnic. Unless you're one of those rare picnickers who lugs 50 pounds of casual china, cutlery and glassware with you, picnics inevitably lead to a surprisingly large bag of trash to add to the week's pile.

Is it possible to have a "green" picnic? Nothing is trendier right now than green designs, so off I went in search of the latest in both environmentally friendly and picnic friendly gear.

Whole Foods in East Liberty was my first stop. After all, what better place to look for eco-friendly products than the store that helped make sustainability cool? There I found disposable plates, cutlery and napkins, all predominantly labeled with green buzzwords.

There were "earth friendly," Terra Ware cutlery and plates made from a "plastic alternative" cornstarch resin (24-piece cutlery pack, $2.39; 15 9-inch plates, $3.99). The plates were also labeled both microwave safe and cut resistant. Right below it were apple green Preserve plates (10 7-inch plates, $3.99) that were BPA free, recyclable No. 5 plastic and reusable.

A visit to the paper products aisle turned up even more options. There were Penley compostable cutlery (24 pack for $1.69), Whole Foods' own 365-brand sugarcane fiber bowls marked biodegradable (25 for $2.99) and 365-brand plastic cups made from No. 1 recyclable material (20 for $1.99).

All these options were great, but they were confusing. What's the difference between biodegradable and compostable? Is compostable better than recyclable?

Turns out that labeling something biodegradable is sort of like labeling chicken "free-range." It's good but not necessarily as good as it sounds. Compostable is better than biodegradable because the standards are stricter. But, because the standards are based on commercial composting facilities -- not something found in every community -- if compostables wind up in landfills, they'll still take a long time to decompose.

Whether items are going into a composting bin or a landfill, you might want to use a Biobag, a compostable and biodegradable garbage bag ($4.99 for 12).

Although not available at Whole Foods, disposables made from bamboo are popular. They look nicer, they're made from a renewable resource, and they biodegrade within four to six months. You can find a whole line of disposable bamboo products at www.greenfeet.com. Unfortunately, even if you're buying in bulk, bamboo disposables are expensive (100 dinner plates for $128), probably too expensive for everyday use for the average consumer.

Looking for a switch that will save you money? Cloth napkins are inexpensive and definitely more environmentally friendly, especially if you have a high-efficiency washer and dryer. They also have the added benefit of not blowing away as easily. But if you're set on disposable napkins, you can still look for unbleached versions made from recycled material.

Reusable china might be the ideal, but that doesn't mean the choices are any less complicated. Everyday plates and cutlery, not to mention glasses, are too heavy and breakable to use for picnics, especially if you want to walk more than a few yards from a car. Unfortunately, there haven't been any major innovations in more outdoor-friendly reusables. The most popular material has been coming and going on our shelves since the 1950s -- melamine.

Melamine has a lot of advantages. It's strong and light and the most recent versions do an excellent job of mimicking ceramics.

Pottery Barn has a lovely, subtly patriotic collection out this summer, with blue or red dinner plates and matching blue or red salad plates with a geometric floral decal design (salad plates, $5; dinner plates, $7). Williams-Sonoma also has great patterns of melamine that resemble traditional Italian stoneware. These plates look a lot heavier than they are. Bowls and dinner plates come in an Italianate rooster pattern, while salad plates are plain red or blue (bowls, four for $56; salad plates, four for $48; dinner plates, four for $56).

Unfortunately, use of melamine in plates is somewhat controversial, especially on the parenting-blog circuit, where people express concern that the chemicals in melamine resins could leach into food and drinks. While research seems to support that it's safe to use, you're not supposed to put it in the microwave, and most people agree that melamine must be discarded if it develops any scratches or cracks. Of course, melamine treated with care may last for years, especially if hand-washed.

Even if melamine is completely safe, it's not the most environmentally friendly product, because it is extremely difficult to recycle. It is hoped we'll see more innovation in light, sturdy reusable dishware soon.

Glassware substitutes offer slightly better, if still imperfect, solutions. Elegant versions tend to be made with polycarbonate, so recent concerns surrounding plastic bottles do apply. On the positive side, designs are improving. I loved the look of stemless polycarbonate wine glasses from Williams-Sonoma (six white wine glasses for $62; six red wine glasses for $72), which were casual enough to do double-duty as water glasses.

A totally green picnic may still be a challenge, but these days it's a little bit easier to enjoy nature and take care of it, too.