Ways to Encourage Waste Free Lunches in SchoolsShare

Ways to Encourage Waste Free Lunches in Schools

We’ve compiled tips, facts and advice on cutting back on lunchtime waste, making it easy for you to spread the word to your school, teachers and other parents. Waste-free lunches are a simple way to reduce consumption on a daily basis, helping you preserve natural resources and save money. Plus, it encourages healthy eating habits. Simply put, the cumulative effect is enormous!

In this resource you will find:

Top Facts
The 5 Steps to a Waste-free Lunch
Where to Find Waste-free Lunch Items
Healthy Lunch Ideas
Additional Resources
How to Spread the Word

Top facts:

Eliminating disposable packaging and single-serving items can save families $250 a year. (Wastefreelunches.org)
40 billion plastic utensils are used every year in just the United States. The majority of these are thrown out after just one use. (Worldcentric.org)
Families spend $85 a year on disposable plastic baggies. (Sierra Club)
Each child who brings a brown bag lunch to school every day generates 67 pounds of waste by the end of the school year. (EPA)

The 5 Steps to a Waste-free Lunch

Replace paper bags with reusable lunch bags.
Use reusable food containers to eliminate single-serve packaging.
Switch from plastic baggies to reusable snack & sandwich bags.
Reusable napkins, utensils and even straws replace their disposable counterparts.
Kick the bottled water and juice habit with a reusable water bottle.

Read more about the 5 steps & watch our video here.

Where Can I Find Safe, Reusable Lunch Items?

Center for Environmental Health (CEH) - vinyl-free lunch bag recommendations
Reuseit.com – a one-stop shop for safe, high-quality lunch items and other reusables

Where Can I Find Ideas for Packing Healthy Lunches?

Additional Resources

Wastefreelunches.org
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Waste-free Lunches for Kids
Disposable Lunch Facts
Eco-Schools USA- providing framework to help educators integrate sustainable principles throughout their schools and curriculum
Care2 – tips for a waste-free lunch

Ways to Spread the Word

Here are a few high-impact things you can do today:

Encourage your school to link to this page on its website
Tell them to mention this page in their e-mail newsletter and on Facebook and Twitter
Recommend this page as a resource for your favorite blogger, editor or writer
Write a blog post, or share this page on your favorite forums
Use the sharing buttons above to send the message to your Facebook friends, Twitter followers and more