Skip to main content

Altona CAN! - Litterless Lunches

 

As we near the end of summer and many of us are thinking about heading back to school it’s a good time to

think about the daily choices we make. It’s estimated that the average North American will produce 600

 times their own weight in garbage over their lifetime. Yet by rethinking some of our daily practices such 

as how we pack our lunches, we can reduce that number and prevent a great deal of garbage from ending 

up in our landfill.  

 A litterless or waste-free lunch means that there is no packaging to throw away when you’re done.  All 

that’s left are biodegradable extras such as apple cores and banana peels which can be composted.  

This means using reusable food and drink containers instead of disposable plastic packaging, washable 

cutlery instead of disposable utensils, and eating homemade instead of prepackaged foods. 

The most obvious reason for a litterless lunch is the massive amounts of garbage that packaged lunches 

create. It is estimated that a typical Canadian student produces approximately 67 pounds of waste per 

school year. When that number is multiplied by 200 students in a school, that’s 13.4 tons which should 

be reduced significantly if not eliminated altogether. Aside from reducing large amounts of garbage, 

switching to a litterless lunch has other benefits.

One significant benefit of switching to a litterless lunch is that it is much cheaper in the long run.  A 2015 

study by ecolunch.com estimates that a family of four could save up to $450 a school year by

eliminating prepacked, single use, disposable lunch products.  The initial costs of purchasing quality 

reusable containers would be offset within the first few weeks.  

 

 

 

Another benefit of litterless lunches is that they lead to healthier food choices.  Many prepackaged foods 

are high in salt, sugar and trans fats in order to give them a longer shelf life. Health experts agree that 

current rates of sugar consumption are dangerous yet many juice boxes contain more sugar than

pop and some packaged granola bars actually contain more sugar than a chocolate bar.  Plastic packaging

also contains harmful chemicals such as BPA which can cause a variety of negative health effects.  

 Here are a few suggestions on how to get started with a litterless lunch. 

1) Invest in quality dishwasher safe re-usuable containers. 

2) Pack lunches in the evening to eliminate the need to pack a lunch quickly in the morning.  

3) Put leftovers from dinner directly into your reusable lunch container.s 

4) Try baking your own granola bars and cookies which allows you to control the sugar content. 

5) When shopping, try not to purchase items in single use packaging to put into your lunch.

While packing a litterless lunch may require a bit more effort, the benefits greatly outweigh the 

inconvenience.  Thinking about our food choices teaches us and our children to be more conscious about 

what we put into our bodies and the waste we create.  


Written for ACAN by Joanne Wiebe

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Altona CAN! ...Live Sustainably - Connie Heppner Mueller

Welcome to Altona Community Action Network’s new column - AltonaCAN! ACAN is a small group of concerned citizens who reach out to the community to educate and inspire environmentally sustainable practices.  What has that looked like? We have hosted annual Earth Day events on various themes and partnered with town council to bring year-round composting to Altona. It has meant coordinating the community garden and supporting Boomerang Bags Altona to reduce our reliance on single-use plastic bags. We have a newly formed Tree Team that hopes to have some more t rees in the ground around Altona this fall. We were also gearing up to lead some waste reduction efforts at this year’s Sunflower Festival, but sadly that will have to wait for next year. What started as a fireside chat between two friends 5 years ago, has grown to a team of 9 members: Gavin Faurschou, Joanne Wiebe, Marilyn Houser Hamm, Joel Martin, Jack Heppner, Jonah Langelotz, Amy Pankewich, Kelly Skelton and Connie Heppner M...
Post a Comment
Read more

Altona CAN! Apply the Golden Rule During a Pandemic

  The other day, someone who falls into the high-risk category for COVID 19 was picking up some items at the  Farmer’s Market.   Because of her own risk factors, but also because she has family members who are high-risk, she  wore a mask as is currently advised by public health.  She was confronted by someone who argued that COVID-19  was “blown out of proportion” and that “a true person of faith wouldn’t live in fear and wear a mask.”    I am disturbed by this behaviour on two accounts.  First, the person who confronted the mask wearing individual  is someone who works with vulnerable people,  and comments about her beliefs about COVID-19 being blown out  of proportion suggest to me that she likely wouldn’t be someone who would take the necessary precautions (at least  not outside of her working environment).  Case in point: her comments were not stated from a respectful distance  of 2 meters.  Rather,...
3 comments
Read more

What will you do about all that oak trim? - By Connie Heppner Muelle

On two different occasions people have asked this question regarding the oak trim and baseboards in  our house. It’s an unsettling question. We live in a 80 year old house that was lovingly restored and updated by the previous owners. While the  baseboards and trim aren’t original, they have been custom made to match the originals. Tall, stately  baseboards that echo of another time, milled carefully to match the era of the home. But now I suppose they have gone out of fashion, thus the questions which imply that something must  be done. Surely we won’t just leave them and let our house become “dated.” Surely we will pay attention  to Pinterest and Instagram and see that we need to update. In contrast, there is a tradition in indigenous traditions called the Honourable Harvest and here is a  sampling of its principles: Take only what you need. Use it respectfully. Never waste what you have taken. Give a gift in reciprocity for what you have taken. Now let’s...
Post a Comment
Read more