Lunchbox Waste

Have you ever thought about how much rubbish is made by children's lunch boxes every day?

Year 3/4 pupils at St Bernadette Primary School in Bristol did a waste audit to find out. Once everybody in the school had finished their lunch, they collected all the rubbish and weighed it.

Pupils investigate the contents of their packed lunch waste

They were amazed to find that in just one day they produced 9.6kg of packed lunch rubbish! That's nearly 50kg per week, all going to a landfill site!

Richard, who is 8, volunteered that he weighed 29kg. So in only 3 days this school creates Richard's weight in packed lunch rubbish. In the school year, they make about 57 Richards of waste just from their packed lunches!
 

The class put on gloves and carefully investigated what materials were being thrown away. The table shows how many pieces of each material they found.

plastic
paper
food
cardboard
metal
other*
group 1
45
32
7
3
2
45
group 2
71
4
3
5
5
17
group 3
100
30
7
3
9
25
group 4
69
36
5
2
1
2
group 5
56
100
7
3
16
32
TOTAL
341
202
29
16
33
121

* 'other' included crisp packets which are made out of plastic with a thin layer of aluminium to keep the crisps fresh.

The pupils discussed how they could make less rubbish from their packed lunches. Their ideas were:

  • Set up a compost bin at school to recycle fruit waste
  • Eat fewer crisps - a healthy option too!
  • Have a 'no sandwich bags' day to persuade parents to buy re-useable containers instead
  • Make signs to go around the school to remind everyone to refill their plastic drinks bottles instead of throwing them away.
More ideas for REDUCING packed lunch waste and SAVING MONEY!
bananas packaged individually

REDUCE

When you buy food with excess packaging you usually end up paying a lot of money for plastic which ends up in the bin!
  • Fruit: try to buy fruit and vegetables in as little packaging as possible. Bananas already have their own natural packaging, so they don't need layers of plastic too! Apples are much cheaper bought loose than heavily packaged - see right for a comparison of the price per apple in two different types of packaging. Look out for local shops that use paper bags instead of lots of plastic.

price per apple when bought in different packaging
  • Snack packs: think carefully before buying 'snack packs' and individual portions of food, as you're usually just paying more for the packaging. It is cheaper, as well as better for the environment, to buy a large packet and transfer small portions into the lunchbox each day.
snack packs

RE-USE
Girl holding refillable drink bottle
  • Drinks: refilling a plastic flask instead of buying cartons or pouches cuts down on waste and saves money. Look at the price of one drink of Ribena sold in different types of packaging!
packaging
price per 250 ml drink *
large bottle (diluted)
11p
cardboard carton
33p
small bottle
43p

*Prices updated 26/08/05

  • Sandwiches: a plastic box can be re-used hundreds of times - much better than sandwich bags or clingfilm. You can buy boxes cheaply, or re-use an old margarine, ice-cream or take-away container.
  • Yogurt: buy a big tub and pour a portion into a small container each day.
  • Crisps: buy a big bag and put a handful into a little plastic box each day.
Plastic sandwich boxes
This approach to buying crisps and yogurt has the added advantage that you can choose the size of your portion!
RECYCLE

If you've followed the tips above, you shouldn't have much rubbish left in your lunch box. But don't forget that there might be some materials that can be recycled. Many parts of the country have kerbside recycling collections; depending on where you live you might be able to recycle paper, cardboard, plastic bottles, aluminium foil and cans. Finally, remember that a compost bin is a fantastic way of helping with nature's own recycling, and it produces FREE compost to use in the garden.

To find out about recycling and composting in your area use the links below or go to your local authority website:
 
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