What's In Your Lunch Bag?
The Days After Thanksgiving, Pack a Waste-Free Lunch
With the approach of Thanksgiving, eating is on my mind – eating in a way that is environmentally aware and fiscally responsible.
Last November my Green Tip discussed holding a “humane” Thanksgiving, an ideal I hope to replicate for this year’s feast. A different but related food strategy targets the days after Thanksgiving by packing a zero-waste lunch.
A zero-waste or waste-free lunch is literally what the words imply – a meal where all packaging, products and post-lunch leftovers can be eaten, reused, recycled or composted; no trash is generated.
While this concept seems straightforward, I am finding it to be a challenge to master because disposable food packaging is so pervasive. Judging by the following estimates, you do too.
- As measured at public schools, a typical brown bag lunch packed with disposable materials generates 4 - 8 ounces of waste. Assuming there are 260 workdays in a year, this translates to nearly 100 pounds of lunch waste per person, per year.
- This not only impacts the environment, it also hurts our bottom line. Waste-Free lunches.org estimates that creating a waste-free lunch costs only $2.65 – much less than their $4 estimate for a standard lunch brought in from home and substantially less than what I pay for a restaurant lunch or take-out.
Giving Thanks for a Zero-Waste Lunch
If waste-free lunches are better for the environment and better for our finances, how can we take advantage of this win-win? Especially when we have delicious post-Thanksgiving leftovers available?
- Before Thanksgiving, set a baseline by paying attention to your current lunch preferences. Keep an eye on the foods you typically eat, along with their associated packaging. Track what you do with the resulting food waste, packaging, utensils and other lunch items, and note what is re-used, recycled, composted and thrown out. Measure the costs.
- Plan your menu to include lunch foods and drinks with minimal packaging. When packaging is required, choose items with materials that can be re-used, recycled or composted.
- Invest in a re-usable bag, drink container, set of utensils, cloth napkin and other service items that will make it easier to be waste-free over the lunch hour.
- Pack out what you pack in. Re-pack lunch byproducts that can be recycled or composted at home but not at work or other locations.
- Measure the impacts of going waste-free and be an example for others you eat with. And continue to strive for zero-waste meals for Thanksgiving and beyond.
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