Reduce at School
Reducing means minimizing all types of waste—even the stuff that we toss into recycling bins. While we certainly want to cut back on the waste we send to landfills, we also want to cut back on the waste we send to recycling facilities.
Transporting and processing recyclable waste impacts the environment. Although this impact is smaller than the impact of processing and transporting new materials, the more we shrink it down, the healthier the planet.
So the goal of reducing is to minimize all types of waste that we produce.
How much waste is in your lunch?
Many Ontario schools now run waste-free or waste-less lunch programs. And with good reason.
On average, a single student’s lunch will generate 30 kilograms (or 60 pounds) of waste each school year. Multiply that by the number of students in your school, and you get a significant contribution to Ontario’s landfills.
A waste-free or waste-less lunch…
includes most or all of the following:
- Reusable lunch bag or lunch box
- Reusable food and drink containers
- Cloth napkins
- Cutlery that can be washed and reused (this doesn’t have to mean your household’s silverware – you can buy inexpensive cutlery specifically for this purpose)
And excludes most or all of the following:
- Paper and plastic bags (including plastic sandwich bags)
- Foil, wax paper and plastic wrap
- Single-use cans, bottles and cartons
- Paper napkins
- Disposable cutlery
In addition to being good for the environment, waste-free lunches also tend to be healthier and cheaper than regular lunches.
A regular lunch—which includes, non-reusable packaging and containers—costs, on average, $4.02 per day.
A waste-free lunch—which includes reusable packaging and containers—costs, on average, $2.65 per day. For tips and information on waste-free lunches, visit WasteFreeLunch.com.
Eliminate as many handouts as you can, and double-side the rest.
Students, teachers and parents can all help reduce the amount of paper that’s taken home from school every day.
- Some teachers and principals give students and parents the option to receive materials electronically, rather than in hard copy. Not only does this reduce paper use, it also helps ensure that important information reaches parents quickly.
- Notices that do go home in hard copy should always be double sided. Most printers and photocopiers make this easy for you to do, and over time, double-siding results in significant cost savings.
- Some schools keep sibling lists to ensure that each family receives just one copy of school-wide notices. While this requires some coordination at the start of the school year, the work pays off in the many months that follow.
