Thursday 4 April 2013

Dish It Up

18,000 pounds of discarded elementary school lunch garbage goes into the landfill each year. The Grade 8 Experiential Program at Dr. J. G. Egnatoff School plans to lead by example. Two or three times a year, they will plan, cook, and serve a hot, nutritious lunch on reusable dinnerware. They’ll raise funds for class activities, learn new skills, and enjoy a healthy meal. Reusable dinnerware and less processed food with less packaging will reduce lunch garbage.

“We think, if we can show that it is possible to make and serve a healthy and tasty lunch to elementary students in a time- and cost-efficient manner in an eco- friendly way, that we will be positively influencing the other students in our school and the staff to think about ways they can decrease the packaging waste they contribute to through traditional hot lunch fundraisers and also increase their awareness of the total amount of lunch garbage created every day with disposable packaging coming from home,” explains Cathy Langdon, a dietitian who has worked with the Grade 8X teacher, Cory Farthing, to develop the program.

By working with students from the College of Pharmacy and Nutrition, the students will learn how to prepare and enjoy healthy food that meet the Healthy Foods for My School guidelines that have been developed to support the Ministry of Education’s Nourishing Minds nutrition policy.

EcoFriendly Sask is pleased to provide a $500 EcoFriendly Action Grant to subsidize the initial cost of purchasing a classroom set of washable bamboo plates, cups, and utensils, along with commercial grade stockpots and roaster pans. We look forward to receiving a report on the pilot lunches to be held this spring.

What We Can Do
Tips to Avoid School Lunch Waste
Healthy Foods for My School Guidelines
Nourishing Minds: Eat Well, Learn Well, Live Well