Sow What? Preparing Healthy School Lunches with Zero Waste

By Cate Petersen and Jinous Jooyan

Parents and kids always want to know what to pack in school lunches. We are going to make some suggestions for healthy lunches and talk about how using reusable containers can help the environment.

Here are some facts about school lunches and how much trash is created:

• A disposable lunch adds about 4 to 8 ounces of garbage to a landfill each day. That is about 100 pounds of trash each year per student, according to recycling.org.
• About 4.6 billion pounds of lunch waste each year could be avoided if students used reusable containers, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
• About 65 percent of landfills are filled with food waste that could be composted and solid waste such as paper, cardboard and other items that could be recycled.
• Plastic bags and styrofoam containers take hundreds of years to decompose, so it is best not to use them.
• For more information, visit reuseit.com.

  

Here are some tips for packing Earth-friendly lunches:

• Always pack a lunch in a reusable sack.
• Purchase a reusable water bottle and fill it each day. Try to find one that says “BPA free.”
• Pack food in reusable containers. There are some really cool containers that have dividers for different items.
• Use a cloth napkin instead of paper.

Recycling is a great way to help our Earth, but when you reuse containers, you are helping more. Reusable lunch items help toward the goal of “zero waste.”

Here are some ideas for healthy lunches that are not packaged and can be placed in reusable containers. If children help their parents pack or plan for their lunch the day before, they may eat more of it. Kids often throw away much of their lunch because they don’t like it or things are soggy or mashed together.

Foods most kids will like in their reusable lunch containers:

• Pita or other bread with cheese, meat or vegetables inside
• Fresh fruit such as apples, grapes, watermelon or blueberries
• Fresh vegetables such as carrots, cucumbers, sugar snap peas and cherry tomatoes
• Chips that have natural ingredients
• Chocolate milk made at home and placed in a stainless steel container (many containers keep food and liquids cold for six to 12 hours).
• Power bars with protein and low sugar

Schools might want to participate in a “zero waste” lunch day. For example, every Tuesday, all students could bring their lunch in reusable containers. In the cafeteria, lunches could be served on compostable plates.

Here’s what kids can do with any leftovers or items that can be recycled. Of course, reusable containers do not create any waste at all.

• Food not eaten can be put in a container and placed in a compost area.
• All reusable containers go back home to be washed and re-packed the next day.
• Food served in the cafeteria can be made of compostable materials and placed in the compost pile.
• Plastic and aluminum can be placed in recycling containers.

Working on zero waste at school during lunchtime can make a huge impact on our Earth.

Cate Petersen and Jinous Jooyan are ninth-grade students at San Juan Hills High School. This is the first in a series of four columns written by girls in the Girl Scout Senior Troop 528 of San Juan Capistrano.