How to Create a Waste-Free School Lunch
- Nichole Dandrea-Russert
- Sep 7, 2021
- 6 min read
Updated: Aug 25
Hey kids (big kids too), want to have fun while helping the health of the planet and the health of you and your family? Take the challenge of packing a waste-free lunch! A waste-free lunch means that you have nothing to throw away in the trash when you're finished eating lunch.
To learn why this is important and how to create a waste-free lunch, keep reading.
Why is a waste-free lunch so important?
According to the EPA, an average student will produce 67 pounds of packaging during lunch in one school year. That is around 20,000 pounds of trash produced in a year for one averaged sized elementary school. That's a lot of trash going to the landfills from just one school!
Let's paint another picture—the national average public school size is 526 students. Let's say each one of those students gets a carton of juice or milk every day during lunch. Multiply 526 students times 180 school days in a year and you get 94,680 cartons in the landfill a year by just one school. And that's just one drink, not to mention other packaging that may be discarded from school lunch.
By reducing the number of items in your lunch that must be thrown out, you can:
Prevent pollution in the air, on the ground and in the ocean
Conserve natural resources like water and air (essentials that we need to survive)
Save energy to help the planet
Reduce the need for disposal to prevent more trash in landfills
Be an environmental leader so that you can influence other kids (and adults!)
Create a better future for the environment, you and your family
What creates waste?
Pre-packaged convenience foods create the most waste, such as Lunchables, juice pouches, granola bars, bags of chips, and snack wrappers.
Other items that create lots of waste include plastic wrap and baggies, utensils, plastic cups, and straws. Even food that ends up in the garbage is considered as waste! In fact, a recent report showed that 27 to 53 percent of food was wasted from kids' plates in the United States (with 50 percent of that waste being fruits and veggies).
School-served lunches can also create waste and may pose a risk to children's health. Plastic trash in the school cafeteria, such as styrofoam trays and plastic “sporks” (or cutlery), is not only an environmental concern, but may actually pose health threats to children, either directly through the migration of chemicals to hot food, or indirectly by way of the disposal of plastic trash through the burning of garbage.
The chemical styrene, a major component of styrofoam, is toxic from the beginning of manufacturing to the time it is discarded or burned to both people and the planet.
Not-so-fun fact: Styrene has been categorized as a “reasonably anticipated carcinogen" by the United States Department of Health and Human Services because of the studies that show styrene leaches from containers into hot food.
From an environmental perspective, when styrene containers become litter, they easily end up in our rivers and oceans, continuing to break down into microplastics (tiny bits of toxic-laden plastics) that are killing marine wildlife and contaminating our seafood.
What to do if your school is using styrofoam to serve lunches? First, pack your own lunch. Second, consider starting a petition with your fellow students to ask the school to find a an alternative that is healthier for you and the planet.
Here's the good news about bringing your own lunch: Packing a healthy, sustainable, waste-free lunch is SIMPLE and FUN!
Benefits of Packing a Waste-Free Lunch
When you pack a waste-free lunch, both the health of our planet and your family will benefit by:
Save Money: By switching to reusable items, you will purchase fewer disposable items and save money.
Stay Healthy: Single-use plastic containers have chemicals that can leach into food, especially when microwaved, that are unhealthy for us. Reusable items provide a safer choice for storing food since they contain fewer chemicals, especially when made of stainless steel or glass. Also, packing fruits and veggies that you love will entice you to eat and not waste them. And, we all know that fruits and veggies are healthy fuel for our bodies!
Save the Planet: When you use a reusable item, you reduce the amount of trash that goes to our landfills, which creates a healthier planet.
The ultimate goal? Send zero trash to the landfill. (That's your fun challenge!)
What does it mean to pack a waste-free lunch?
"Waste” is anything that would get thrown away at the end of the lunch period, including yogurt containers, napkins, utensils, bags, and food scraps.
A waste-free lunch means that you have nothing to throw away in the trash when you're done, except for compostable items such as apple cores, banana and orange peels. (Read more about composting and watch a fun video on how you can compost below!)
You can strive for a zero-waste lunches by:
Refusing things that you don’t need
Reducing your consumption to only what you truly need
Reusing as much as possible
Composting your food scraps
Recycling what you cannot refuse, reduce, reuse, or compost
10 Tips for Creating a Waste-Free School Lunch
1. Swap Disposable Utensils for Reusables
Bring utensils from home and wash them after use, or try bamboo cutlery sets in fun colors to reduce plastic waste like these or these from EarthHero.
2. Choose a Refillable Water Bottle
Skip the juice cartons and disposable cups. A reusable water bottle keeps you hydrated, saves money, and keeps thousands of bottles out of landfills.
3. Ditch Plastic Baggies for Reusable Snack Bags
Colorful, washable snack bags are a fun and eco-friendly swap for single-use plastic bags.
4. Store Food in Stainless Steel or Glass Containers
Use stainless steel containers in place of plastic throwaway containers. Safer for your health and better for the planet, stainless steel containers are long-lasting and chemical-free.
5. Upgrade to a Reusable Lunchbox
Say goodbye to paper and plastic bags. Switch to a reusable lunchbox or lunch bag. You can easily find lunchboxes at most stores, and an insulated lunchbox will keep your lunch cold until it is time to eat. Or, get creative and make your own lunch box by reusing items you have on hand.
6. Buy in Bulk Instead of Single-Serve Packs
Reduce packaging waste (and save money!) by buying items like yogurt, trail mix, or granola in bulk and portioning them into reusable containers.
7. Pack Your Own Lunch with Foods You Love
Skip pre-packaged convenience foods. Prepping your favorite fruits, veggies, and snacks in reusable containers makes lunch healthier and tastier.
8. Portion Wisely to Prevent Food Waste
Pack only what you know you’ll eat. Smaller portions reduce waste and make it easier to enjoy every bite.
9. Get Creative with Family Meal Prep
Have fun making lunches together—try cutting fruit into fun shapes or making DIY snack boxes. Food always tastes better when you help prepare it!
10. Compost Food Scraps for a Zero-Waste Win
Collect food scraps like apple cores or banana peels and compost them at home. This reduces landfill waste and creates nutrient-rich soil. To create an easy composting system at home, check out this video. Don't forget to leave food scraps in the containers when done with lunch so you can add them to your homemade compost!
Bonus: Grow Your Own Food
Take it one step further by growing your own veggies and fruits at home using compost soil. Fresh, homegrown food is nutritious and waste-free.
Transitioning to zero-waste lunches will take some practice, but once you start making changes, it will become natural!
Small Swaps, Big Impact
Transitioning to a waste-free school lunch might feel like a big challenge at first, but with a little creativity and the right tools, it quickly becomes second nature. Each swap—from reusable utensils to composting food scraps—makes a meaningful difference for the planet and sets an example for classmates, friends, and family.
By embracing these simple, sustainable habits, you’ll save money, eat healthier, and help protect our environment.
Remember: it’s not about perfection—it’s about progress. The more waste-free choices we make together, the brighter and cleaner our future will be. 🌍✨
Are you ready to challenge yourself to pack a waste-free lunch?
Watch The Weather Channel segment, "How to Create a Waste-Free School Lunch" below!
