Trumbull Nature & Arts Center
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Green Your School and Have a Zero-Waste Day!
Here’s a challenge for you. Can you get through an entire day of school without throwing anything away, including during lunch? Stuffing trash in your backpack to throw away later doesn’t count! Try going totally zero waste. It’s possible if you plan ahead!
The Zero-Waste Lunch
Did you know that the average school kid generates 67 pounds of waste per school year?
- Use a reusable insulated bag or lunch box instead of a paper or plastic bag. A reusable ice pack can be used to keep perishable foods cold. (Don’t forget to bring them home with you at the end of the day!)
- Get reusable containers that can be washed and used over and over.
- Use a thermos or refill your water bottle to carry beverages to school.
- Use a real fork or spoon, or wash plastic cutlery to reuse.
- Shop with your parents to buy in bulk and pack individual servings in reusable containers. Create your own healthy snack packs!
- Be sure to use convenient, reusable shopping bags when shopping for your lunch supplies.
Your School Recycling Program
To make a zero-waste day possible, you’ll need to have access to a recycling program. Paper is the biggest part of your school’s waste stream (about half of all waste), so having a mixed paper and cardboard recycling program is most important. Other items to recycle include food and beverage containers from the lunchroom. If your school doesn’t have a recycling program for these materials, you may want to see what you can do to create one.
- Talk to administrators. See how you can work together to start a program at school.
- Gather data about how much material could be diverted to show how much money could be saved if trash hauling were reduced.
- Work with your school’s recycling or environmental club to start recycling a few materials. Set up some bins in areas where the materials are generated (and always near trash cans).
- Take it slow! Focus on just one material at a time so you can work through any challenges you encounter.
Classroom Action
You can reduce waste in the classroom by looking at what is used most.
- Use both sides of paper before it is recycled. Trays or bins can be set up to collect reusable paper in the classroom so everyone knows where to look first when they need it.
- Write information on a board rather than print copies of it.
Printable Version