Packing Waste-Free Lunches
Submitted By: Sharon Richard (snrichard@comcast.net)

Challenge
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I have two boys that are now 17 and 13 years old. For years, I’ve packed their lunches using baggies, saran wrap, aluminum foil, and whatever else I needed to protect each item. Besides the things I wrap, I often included packaged items like yogurt and granola bars. And threw in a plastic spoon. Nothing came home in the lunch bag and that’s the way I liked it—nice and clean. The part that I didn’t fully acknowledge is that every day they were putting all the packaging and wrapping in the garbage and that hundreds of other kids were probably doing the same thing. This issue didn’t really hit my radar until the past couple years when I started hearing people talk about reducing lunch waste.

Solution Details
I began noticing new products and experimenting with them. I started simple – I bought re-usable lunch bags from the Container Store. Then, earlier this year I heard about a new product called a Wrap-N-Mat that is a re-usable food wrapper that opens up and can be used like a place mat. I ordered four of them, thinking I’ll just wrap everything with these, but they really only worked well for a big item like a sandwich. So, I took a trip to the Container Store thinking they must have something better than this. They have a large assortment of containers (of all shapes & sizes) for packing food. But, I really hit the jackpot when I found a new website called onesmallstep.com, started by a Mom in the East Bay.
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They have a great selection! I ordered a set of containers, that I really love, called “MunchGear” (BPA-Free!), and also a couple snackTAXIs, which are like little re-usable envelopes for snacks. At last I had a whole arsenal of re-usable items that I could pack anything with!! Finally, the trick with the kids is to train them to “bring everything home” – nothing goes in the trash. If we all do this, my prediction with the kids is that it will soon be “uncool” to produce trash!

Side note on those kids who want a water bottle in their lunch, Diablo Foods has a great assortment of kid size stainless steel water bottles. I have also noticed great re-usable lunch kits (like the ECOlunchbox) that are especially designed for the younger kids – so definitely check out Diablo Foods!

You may ask, this all sounds great, what’s the downside? So, yes, it does take more time to process through the lunch bags and put containers in the dishwasher at the end of the day but literally I spend no more than 10 minutes a week doing this. That’s nothing! Even things like yogurt containers (which is recyclable food packaging) can be rinsed out and recycled. So, believe it or not, they are now putting no lunch waste in the garbage at school. None. Nada. Zip. Well, every now and then the occasional item, like a Kettle chip bag, still goes in the trash. I’m not perfect – yet. It now seems so easy and makes so much sense, I wonder why I hadn’t done this sooner…


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Benefits & Payback
I spent about $50 ordering re-usable items on the Internet, but in one school year I’ll prevent the following from going in the trash:
  • Around 350 sheets of plastic wrap (1 per day x 2 boys)
  • Around 700 baggies (2 per day x 2 boys)
  • 100 sheets of foil – just a guess
  • 100 yogurt containers or more – estimate
  • 100 plastic spoons
I’m not really sure what all of this would cost, but it adds up day after day, and it just makes a lot more sense to use reusable items. Anything disposable will become trash and if it’s made out of plastic it will take forever (1000 years?) to decompose.

The other great thing is that if I pack too much food, they can just wrap or seal it back up, save it for a snack, or just bring it home.


Informational Links

onesmallstep.com - online store with a wide selection of items for making waste-free lunches.
Container Store - re-usable lunch bags and wide assortment of containers.
ECOlunchbox kit - a great kit designed by a Mom in Lafayette, available at Diablo Foods.


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