Some schools are implementing a no waste lunch policy in order to reduce waste, save parents money and encourage children to eat healthier.
This can be a difficult and frustrating step for parents who are used to sending prepackaged food for their children. After all, prepackaged food is convenient (particularly when both parents work) and it stays fresh longer, so parents are confident that the risk of food poisoning is lower. The main downfalls of prepackaged food is that it costs more and produces more waste.
Prepackaged Food Contains Additives
In addition to cost and waste, prepackaged food stuffs often contain additional food additives which may be harmful to kids. Additives such as artificial preservatives, colours and flavours enhance the attractiveness and freshness of the food stuffs but can also affect behaviour and long term health. While these chemicals may fall within industry standards for that particular product, little research has been done on the ingestion of several products containing similar or a variety of food additives. It is important to read the labels and understand what the ingredients are.
How Much of a Gourmet Buffet Do Kids Really Need?
At the end of the day, parents need to question, just how much elaborate food do kids really need? Generation Xers and baby boomers will remember that as children, the typical lunch box contained a drink bottle of water, home baked sweet and fruit for morning tea and sandwiches and for lunch. The amount of waste produced from such a lunch packaged in re-washable containers is almost nil, depending on what fruit is given. Most kids back then would never have returned home with uneaten lunch because there were very strict rules on when the next meal would be served.
These days Generation Y and Z children typically carry a wide variety of prepackaged single serve food stuffs like cereal bars, dried fruit, yoghurt, biscuits, tinned fruit snacks, chips, fruit derivative "roll up" sweet snacks, poppers and maybe a real apple or a sandwich. Most of it is opened and rarely is all of any treat fully eaten. Waste from each lunch box includes a bit of every type of snack available in the lunch box, in addition to the wrapper it was packaged in! How much money is being wasted and how much environment has to suffer?
Waste in the School Grounds Plus Money Wasted
It is no wonder the teachers and principals cringe when they look at the grounds around the schools and impose such an apparent harsh rule in the twenty first century, but this issue needs to be addressed somewhere in the community. Education starts in the schools. Children are taught about what sort of rubbish can go into which bin right from kindergarten. It is an essential life skill. Yet ironically, Generation X parents who have fought so hard for environmental change, keep adding to the non-recyclable waste by continuing to flood lunch boxes with a smorgasboard of unappreciated snacks.
It's time to get back to basics and simplify those lunches. After all, the kids are really only at school for six hours in the day. They wont starve in that time! It's quite amazing how much money can be saved and the children will be better off with less to choose from in the long run.
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