No Trash Lunches - Garden Plants and Gardening Forum

smgardener · 09-27-2007, 07:17 AM

I just heard about this concept they implemented at a nearby school: no trash lunches. I think this is so fantastic -- it rally gets you thinking about how to pack up your kids lunch so there's no waste at all: real silverware, cloth napkins, no twinkies or ding dongs. It's great to get kids looped into reducing their waste at such a young age!

There aren't a lot of resources on the net, but I found these sites:

From that last link:

Quote:

Students at US colleges and universities generate on the order of 3.6 million tons of waste a year, or about 2 percent of the country's total waste stream. Food and food-related items may account for 10 to 20 percent of this waste--at some schools, the largest component of the waste stream after paper. While some of these materials can be recycled, many--such as food waste--cannot. This means that schools are paying waste management costs related to their food service operations in addition to the costs incurred by purchasing and preparing food in the first place.

lspichkin · 09-28-2007, 11:44 AM

I think this is a great idea and something that I would like to work on as a personal goal. It seems like it only takes a bit of extra effort to come up with ways to cut down on our trash output. If anyone has ideas about how to do this in our everyday lives, I'd love to hear about it.

lulugardens · 11-12-2007, 03:25 PM

I think it's key to have the right kind of lunch box to have a waste free lunch. The kind that most kids have is just a single open space. You end up having to put all the different foods into (disposable) packets of some sort so they don't slosh around together. They sell these different kinds of lunch boxes now such as the ones at LaptopLunches that have sealable and reusable containers that fit inside. These make ziploc bags unnecessary. There's room for a fork/spoon and everything is easy washed and reused.

Saturn · 11-15-2007, 11:08 PM

That's a great idea. The same goes with meals at home. Buying produce and meats and not using paper and styro plates and/or cups helps cut down on garbage compared to the normal boxed and wrapped freezer entree with paper cups.

cia007 · 12-02-2007, 08:05 AM

I love laptop lunches! Such a great concept, and good for you too!

lspichkin · 12-02-2007, 08:37 PM

So, in working towards this goal I've bought cloth napkins and have been using those exclusively at home for a couple of weeks now. It's been great. I bought 20 napkins for $1 a piece and there's always some available. No one even misses the paper napkins and I feel good that I've at least cut down on that part of the trash output.

09-28-2007, 11:44 AM	#2
lspichkin Administrator Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: West Hollywood, CA Posts: 175 Images: 88	Enough trash already... I think this is a great idea and something that I would like to work on as a personal goal. It seems like it only takes a bit of extra effort to come up with ways to cut down on our trash output. If anyone has ideas about how to do this in our everyday lives, I'd love to hear about it.

11-12-2007, 03:25 PM	#3
lulugardens Green Thumb Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 31 Blog Entries: 5 Images: 1	The right lunch box I think it's key to have the right kind of lunch box to have a waste free lunch. The kind that most kids have is just a single open space. You end up having to put all the different foods into (disposable) packets of some sort so they don't slosh around together. They sell these different kinds of lunch boxes now such as the ones at LaptopLunches that have sealable and reusable containers that fit inside. These make ziploc bags unnecessary. There's room for a fork/spoon and everything is easy washed and reused.

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search

11-15-2007, 11:08 PM	#4
Saturn Green Thumb Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: The Great Abyss Posts: 48	That's a great idea. The same goes with meals at home. Buying produce and meats and not using paper and styro plates and/or cups helps cut down on garbage compared to the normal boxed and wrapped freezer entree with paper cups.

12-02-2007, 08:05 AM	#5
cia007 Green Thumb Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Olympia, WA Posts: 48	I love laptop lunches! Such a great concept, and good for you too!

12-02-2007, 08:37 PM	#6
lspichkin Administrator Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: West Hollywood, CA Posts: 175 Images: 88	So, in working towards this goal I've bought cloth napkins and have been using those exclusively at home for a couple of weeks now. It's been great. I bought 20 napkins for $1 a piece and there's always some available. No one even misses the paper napkins and I feel good that I've at least cut down on that part of the trash output.