Talking Trash: School Lunches

Coming from a small Montessori school, our transition to an elementary school (which has eight Kindergarten classes alone!) has been full of all sorts of surprises. A particularly big eye-opener has been school lunch.

My son’s previous school nurtured him with organic gardening, taught him to prepare his own food and set the table with real plates and silverware. He was encouraged to eat slow and savor his meal. Zero-waste was a no-brainer.

After recently volunteering during his lunch hour, I was shocked that so many parents continue to fill their children’s lunch pails with Snackables and juice boxes (as well as other highly-packaged products) and continue to pack their children’s food in plastic baggies, and in many cases, plastic storage containers that have the capacity to leach toxics.

The organic hot lunch program is an even greater trash culprit as each item is packaged in small plastic baggies (that I noticed are often too difficult for the kids to open themselves and thus get tossed with contents inside). My jaw dropped as I watch how quickly the individual milk cartons and non-reusable food containers began to overflow from the trash can.

While I don’t have all the answers to creating a zero-waste school lunch program, I have discovered one solution that could help substantially: Kids Konserve has created a fantastic line of ReUsable lunch systems that not only makes packing lunch easy, but produces zero-waste as a result (of course, that’s assuming your child eats all that is packed in the containers). Two stainless steel containers, a reusable plastic baggie, a stainless steel kanteen and a cloth napkin — all come in an adorable organic cloth bag, (which also comes with a nametag so it won’t get lost after it’s first use.) I picked up the caterpillar set at $42, but it’s possible to purchase the items individually too.

I realize that a reusable lunch system doesn’t necessarily make it any easier to come up with the time to shop and pack a nutritious lunch. That’s why it’s worth checking out Laura Everage’s new FamilyEats newsletter. She shares recipes and stories that will inspire you to nourish your children at school (and at home). Also, if you sign up to receive the newsletter by October 24th, you’ll be entered in a drawing to win a Viking 3-quart saute pan. Simply send an email that includes your full name and request to be added to the newsletter: newsletter@familyeats.net.

Also, please leave comments about any ideas or solutions that have proved impactful for achieving zero-waste at your school.