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Monday, April 6, 2015

How to achieve a waste free lunch box


Izzys' auntie Margi chose a good week to come along and watch assembly a couple of weeks ago. Izzy won a very special award.

Izzy's class won a week long competition, to see who could accumulate the least waste from their lunchboxes. It coincided with a performance called 'Wiping out waste', at another local school.

Izzy won an individual award, because for the week, she accumulated no waste. Which meant she had no rubbish left over from her recess or lunch. By rubbish, it means no cling wrap or wrappers, because she would have had the odd apple core or banana peel. So I guess they didn't include recyclable materials in that waste. I've also noticed there is now a green waste/chook bucket outside the classroom door.

I was so proud, happy and just a tiny bit emotional. Just a little bit, no tears were shed people!

It wasn't until Margi mentioned it, that it dawned on me. That award, was a credit to me too.

I thought I would share how I achieve a waste free lunch box, most weeks.

While Izzy was standing with her other classmates, in front of the assembly, she was holding her lunch box. It's the same lunch box I used last year at Kindy. I bought a new one for school this year. It a Nude Food Movers lunch box, I bought at Woolies.






It has a compartment for a sandwich, so there is no need for wrapping it. Under the sandwich there is plenty of room for a piece of cake, some biscuits, cut up veggies or fruit.

There are a couple of containers with screw top lids for loose things like popcorn, sultanas or savoury biscuits like Shapes, or rice crackers.

I don't buy individually packaged snacks. I buy a big bag of sultanas, whole packets of crackers and make my own popcorn.  I then fill the coloured containers with whatever I have at the time.

These lunch boxes are available in a larger version too, with an extra compartment of containers. If I had one of these, I'd probably put yogurt in one container and freeze one with water in it, as an mini ice brick to keep it cool.




Do you ever think about what you can do to reduce waste?




13 comments:

  1. Obviously we're not up to kindy or school yet, but we don't usually have much waste here either. I make most of her food myself and we use reusable containers. She eats lots of bananas though so there's lots of banana peels {which she tries to eat too, yuck}.

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    1. Banana peels are great fertiliser for the garden, just chuck them under rose bushes especially! Lots of trace elements :)

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  2. My kids have these lunch boxes too but I've never thought to fill up and freeze one of the small containers. Thanks for the suggestion.

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    1. Just an after thought on my part. When Izzy gets older, I am sure I will need a bigger lunch box.

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  3. What a great initiative and well done to you and Izzy!! As a teacher I was horrified by the amount of packaged food some kids would bring to school, for both the amount of rubbish and the lack of nutritional value!

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    1. My niece is a primary school teacher, some of the horror stories she told about some kids lunch boxes was sad. Most though, I am sure are pretty good. I was so proud of the fact that Izzys was waste free. It never occurred to me to make it that way, it just was. Pretty proud mumma!

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  4. It's great when schools take initiatives that reward kids for this type of thing. Sometimes i think that is the only way to give the issue importance in the kids' minds and also make parents think about it too.
    Also, I love the idea of the bin outside the classroom for recyclable food scraps!

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    1. It coincided with a performance about wiping out waste. At the assembly, the principle made the point, that the more waste they produced, the more it costs the school in the long run, to have their rubbish collected. I know my chooks would love the scraps from that school green bin!!

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  5. I am getting worse at this. When my kids were little, I would make the best lunch boxes but now I opt for quick and easy... and unfortunately that involves a lot of wrappers.

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  6. I have had the waste free lunchboxes but I have to say, I hate the washing up at the end of the day! I am sneaking more and more Glad Wrap into lunchboxes these days to save myself the agony at the other end of the day - bad, I know!

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  7. I have to wash this lunch box everyday school day! I guess if you have more than one it becomes a bit much. I do wash it though, because I worry a bit about the germs that start to grow if I don't!

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  8. Yes, I like, delicious thought !!

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  9. The Easter long weekend has thrown me! Aargh! Anyway, what a great post Alicia... I love the 'waste free lunchbox'... it's good for the school, the health of our children, the environment and our planet. I very rarely do lunch boxes anymore; mainly for me when I attend a workshop. I admit I too, need to get into the habit of using less glad wrap!

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