How much School lunch do we waste?
leftovers from Jeanne salchli on Vimeo. |
school lunch from Jeanne salchli on Vimeo. |
We examined a typical lunch at school and weighed the entire meal including the containers, wrappers, paper and tray.
We found that a typical lunch weighs 1 1/2 lbs (1.5 lbs). So, the question is, how much of this meal do most students really eat? How much of the 1 1/2 lbs goes into the trash and ends up in our landfill?
We found that a typical lunch weighs 1 1/2 lbs (1.5 lbs). So, the question is, how much of this meal do most students really eat? How much of the 1 1/2 lbs goes into the trash and ends up in our landfill?
Calculating your waste
You decided how much of the school lunch you actually ate, and we weighed the leftovers that were thrown away.
Most groups had the following result: 1 lb leftover food
Two groups had the following result: 0.5 lbs leftover food
- How much lunch waste do you make at school each week? (leftover food in lbs x 5 days)
- How much lunch waste do you make each month? (leftover food in lbs x 20 days)
- How much lunch waste do you make each school year? (leftover food in lbs x 180 days)
- How much lunch waste does your class make per day? (leftover food in lbs x students in class)
- How much lunch waste does your class make per week? (leftover food of the entire class in lbs x 5 days)
- How much lunch waste does your class make per month? (leftover food of the entire class in lbs x 20 days)
- How much lunch waste does your class make per school year? (leftover food of the entire class in lbs x 180 days)
Think about it / Write about it
- Which if any of the leftovers on the tray can be recycled?
- Which if any of the leftovers on the tray are biodegradable?
- What could you do to reduce your waste and leftovers from this lunch?
Take the Fuel Up Challenge
What does a healthy meal look like? Play the game and learn about healthy, nutritious lunch.
EAT IT!!!
- Create a lunch menu of a balanced meal that has as little packaging as possible.
- Describe how each item of the lunch waste can be recycled, composted or discarded as trash.
- Make a poster to show what you learned.