Take Action: Waste-Free Lunches
by Michael Graham Richard, Gatineau, Canada on 08. 2.05
If you have school-age children, you probably know just how much waste a typical lunch contains. Everything is either a single-serving item or wrapped in plastic, wax paper, inside bags or in aluminum foil, etc. Multiply that by the number of children and adults who eat lunches and what you get is a tremendous waste of resources. Enter the Waste Free Lunches project! The objective is to get school communities involved and to spread this trash-less lunch philosophy (if such a thing can be called a philosophy). WasteFreeLunches.com contains information and success stories while LaptopLunches.com is where they sell containers and books on how keep lunches waste-free and interesting. Buying the products might not be for everybody, but the waste-free lunch concept should be on the priority list all teachers and parents. It doesn't only reduce waste, it teaches children important values and that's the most important aspect.
::Waste-Free Lunches, ::Laptop Lunches, via ::Sustainablog
As an adult working in NYC I feel guilt and helplessness at the amount of waste I produce at lunchtime. Take for example a standard lunch, Vegan Burrito and a side of chips. The burrito is double wrapped in foil and paper, the chips come in their own paper bag. And included is a stack of napkins, packaged plasticwear, and a plastic shopping bag.
I've already taken to refilling my own waterbottles rather than buying a packaged or throway-cup beverage. I also reuse plasticwear, save napkins, and go without a shoppingbag whenever I catch the cashier early enough.
what is a busy person to do?
At my highschool, there is a day where everyone is encouraged to bring a waste-free lunch. Anyone who shows the environmental club's head their lunchbox with no garbage in it receives a prize. There is also a similar day for not taking cars to school. Why doesn't this happen every day??
I bring my lunch in a thermos almost every day - carried in a lunch bag and eaten with a kitchen fork - but on days when I don't have one, I am forced to eat from the cafeteria: and it always leaves me feeling depressed. A take-out box. Plastic cutlery, paper napkins, a paper bag, a plastic straw and often individually wrapped desserts. All of these, just for me personally. There is so much waste going through that place. The amount of styrofoam we go through in one week could fill the entire cafeteria. All because people are too lazy to put the effort into bringing their own lunch and helping our environment just a little bit.
Its been a long time since I went to school, I guess, but don't school cafeterias use trays and silverware anymore? Have they fired all the cafeteria dishwashers and replaced them with garbage men?
At my high school, they use styrofoam trays and plastic utensils. I remember that in elementary school, they used reusable trays and silverware. Nowadays, it seems, people are going for what's more convenient than anything else.