How to Reduce Waste in Schools and Lunchboxs

The holidays have ended and the school day routine is in full swing again so it’s time to think about what children are taking to school in their lunchboxes. While single serve packaged items make filling the lunch box quick and easy, convenience is working out extremely costly for the environment… each primary school aged child creates approximately 30kg of rubbish every year from their lunch box!

That might not sound too bad… but when you consider that there are over 3 million children enrolled in primary schools throughout Australia and you do the sum…yikes… that’s a LOT of rubbish!

Some schools have taken the initiative and have introduced rubbish sorting bins, ditched plastic straws, opted in for the Containers for Change program or started a nude lunch campaign (hi five to them!) but unfortunately at most schools all rubbish ends up in one bin that goes straight to landfill… insert big sad face here…

It’s a fact that children learn most from what they SEE their parents doing… so it’s time for us, as parents to start making some lunchbox changes and leading by example for the little people in our lives.

Initially, it might take a few extra minutes to pack your child’s lunchbox, but once you make the decision to do better and with a little forethought and organisation it will soon become second nature. And as a bonus you will probably find that nude lunches work out cheaper for you and healthier for your child! (Not to mention they are definitely better for the planet).

Currently, if it needs to be ‘packaged’ in some way we use small containers that I already had in the cupboard and I encourage you to look around the kitchen and use what you have on hand first. If you really don’t have anything there are a multitude of reusable options available these days, including wax wraps, compartmentalised lunch boxes, reusable sandwich wraps and snack bags. As one companies slogan says. There’s no excuse for single use.

Here’s some ideas for the lunchbox that we use in our family:

1.       Cherry tomatoes and chopped vegies like carrots, cucumber, capsicum

2.       Cubed cheese chopped from a large block (to minimise the soft plastic waste)

3.       Fruit that has its own packaging – banana’s, apples, mandarins

4.       Home popped pop corn

5.       Home made banana cake or muffins

6.       Sandwiches

If you honestly find the thought of creating a nude lunch too overwhelming, remember to take small steps... it makes things easier to implement and the easier they are to implement, the more chance you have of making it the new normal… so use up all those single serve packaged snack foods and lunch items you have in the cupboard but as they run out, start sourcing a better option.

If you can’t find a non packaged option and you don’t want to give up a certain food, for example potato chip…. It’s better to buy a large bag of chips and fill a small container every day to put in the lunch box than it is to purchase the individual serving sized packs.

When it comes to what to put into their lunchboxes I am all for quick and simple. I thought I would share my Banana Bread recipe with you which I just love because it fulfills my need for quick and simple food and its super tasty and quite good for you. Yes there is some sugar in this but at least you know exactly what is going into their tummies.

Wendy’s Super Simple Banana Bread.

Wendy’s Super Simple Banana Bread.

Ingredients:

125g Butter

¼Cup Caster Sugar

1 tsp Vanilla Essence

1 Egg

2 Ripe Mashed Bananas

¼ Cup Milk

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 170°C

2. Melt the Butter, Sugar and Vanilla in a medium saucepan

3. Remove from the heat

4. Add mashed Bananas and stir till just combined

5. Add Egg and mix well, Stir in flour

6. Pour in Milk and fold lightly

7. Pour into a greased and lined loaf tin

8. Bake for around 40 minutes.

9. Allow to cool in pan before flipping out.

Yes the ultimate goal is to reduce, reduce, reduce and the ideas I have shared today will help you get there... however while you are in transition phase you need to dispose of the waste you are generating in the correct way. Teach your child to start bringing home their rubbish... that way you can sort the rubbish appropriately … compost, soft plastics, recycling, landfill. If you still have glad wrap or zip lock bags in the house, don’t be afraid to use it up. Glad wrap can go in the soft plastics recycling and zip lock bags can be washed, dried and used repeatedly until they tear. We used one ziplock bag every school day for almost an entire school year when we were finishing off what we had! Remember with every action you take you are making a big impact so think about how your actions will affect the world around you.