Have you ever stopped to consider how much garbage you throw away after you’ve eaten lunch? The single-serving yogurt container, cookie wrappers, and drinking box all end up in a garbage can. Why not try packing a litterless lunch for you and the kids tomorrow?
Flo Busnello, Recycling Queen for the City shares her advice on preparing a litterless lunch that will fill your tummy, while leaving your garbage can empty.
“There are many things that can be used to pack a litterless lunch,” says Busnello, adding that reusable containers can be used to package your sandwich and snacks. There are litterless options for all sorts of lunch essentials. For beverages, reusable bottles can replace individually-packaged drinking boxes. Cloth napkins can be used instead of disposable paper napkins. To bring soup, use an insulated container to keep it warm until lunch time. Instead of slicing fruit, leave it whole since Mother Nature has already wrapped the fruit in convenient biodegradable packaging.
The popularity of single serving packaged food items has skyrocketed in the past few years. Everything from pudding, crackers, chips, cheese, cookies, and of course yogurt can be found in individually wrapped packages.
“Yogurt is a perfect example for single serving portions. All of the packaging ends up in the garbage,” says Busnello. “If you buy a large container and use a reusable container to fill, you can recycle the yogourt container and you won’t have any litter.”
A littlerless lunch is often confused with a boomerang lunch. Busnello explains that a boomerang lunch still has garbage but it’s brought home to be disposed of.
“You’re still producing litter. A litterless lunch doesn’t have any litter so you're not throwing any garbage out. “
For potluck lunches at the office, Busnello recommends bringing your own plate and utensils. For your daily trip through the drive thru, why not bring your travel mug and ask to have it filled instead of using a disposable cup? Not only will it help reduce garbage, but it might save you a little money since most coffee shops offer a discount for filling reusable containers.
For more information on packing a litterless lunch, visit
www.hamilton.ca/waste.
