Low Waste Lunch Day

Why Act?

Much of the trash we generate comes from the packaging on the food we buy, and lunch foods are no exception. In fact, it has been estimated that on average a school-age child using a disposable lunch generates 67 pounds of waste per school year!

By reducing the number of items in your lunch that must be thrown out, or only using those that can be eaten, reused, recycled, or composted, you can

• Prevent pollution
• Conserve natural resources such as coal, oil, natural gas, and trees
• Save energy

Action Steps

REUSE

• Bring in forks, spoons and knives from home
• Use cloth napkins
• Use refillable drink containers (ie thermos)
• Switch to reusable lunch containers instead of throw-away, brown paper lunch bags

• Aluminum cans
• Glass bottles
• Paper bags

• Instead of throwing food scraps in the garbage, throw them in a composter instead. If your school does not compost, encourage your school administration to make it a priority!

Resources:

www.wastefreelunches.org

www.epa.gov/epaoswer/education/pdfs/lunch.pdf

www.epa.gov/epaoswer/education/pdfs/mad-guide.pdf