There are so many convenience products available to us, and nowhere is this more evident than in the school lunch room. Most parents pack lunch items in single-use plastic bags, aluminum foil and purchase single-serving items that come in their own disposable package. Admittedly, these packaging and pre-packaged products are extremely convenient, but what is the environmental cost? It's huge! In fact, it has been estimated that, on average, a school-age child using a disposable lunch generates 67 pounds of waste per school year. That equates to 18,760 pounds of lunch waste for just one average-size elementary school! That's a lot of trash going to a landfill.
Packing a waste-free lunch for your child will help reduce our trash problem. What's great, too, is that you'll save money in the process. The savings will come not only in purchasing less but, in reducing the purchase of single serving pre-packaged food and drinks, you can buy in bulk.
So what does a waste-free lunch look like in contrast to a disposable lunch?
A Typical Disposable Lunch:
- sandwiches sealed in plastic bags
- fruits and vegetables in plastic bags
- prepackaged chips, cookies, fruit bars, granola bars, cheeses, and fruit leathers
- prepackaged yogurts, applesauces, and puddings
- crackers, pretzels, chips, and other snack foods sealed in plastic bags
- disposable juice boxes, juice pouchs, soda cans, water bottles, and milk cartons
- plastic forks and spoons
- paper napkins
- reusable lunchboxes or disposable and plastic bags
A Waste-Free Lunch:
- sandwiches and other main dishes, fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, and treats packed in reusable lunch containers (bento-style lunch boxes make lunch packing easy!)
- cloth napkins
- stainless-steel forks and spoons
- reusable drink bottles
- reusable lunchboxes
Waste-free lunches are not only a wise environmental choice, but they are less expensive as well. Let's take a look at the dollars and cents courtesy of Waste Free Lunches.org:
A Typical Disposable Lunch:
1 egg salad sandwich $1.25
1 yogurt .85
1 granola bar .45
1 apple .30
1 package of carrots and dip .65
3 plastic bags .12
1 juice pouch .35
1 plastic spoon .04
1 paper napkin .01
TOTAL $4.02
A Comparable Waste-Free Lunch:
1 egg salad sandwich $1.25
1 serving of yogurt .50
1 serving of granola .35
1 apple .30
1 serving of carrots and dip .25
water 0
cloth napkin 0
stainless steel spoon 0
packaging 0
TOTAL $2.65
Disposable Lunch vs. Waste-Free Lunch
$4.02 / day $2.65 / day
$20.10 / week $13.25 / week
$723.60 / school year $477.00 / school year
723.60 - 477.00 = $246.60 savings per school year per person.
Now that's nothing to sneeze at. As we all know, every bit of savings counts!
Visit our Kids Department and shop these great waste-free lunch packing products: http://theultimategreenstore.com/s-8-kids.aspx
