Waste Free Lunch Week at Devon schools

Primary school pupils across Devon have been bravely examining the rubbish produced by their packed lunches over the past few weeks in readiness of the County-wide “Waste Free Lunch” week campaign from 10th – 14th March.

Donning gloves, and with strong stomachs, children have been weighing waste, sorting snacks and picking out packaging from the mountain of rubbish generated every day after lunch time.

The aim of the campaign is to reduce the amount of waste produced by packed lunches in schools, and to share innovative ideas for packing “waste free” lunches with pupils, teachers and parents.

Cabinet member with responsibility for waste, Roger Croad said of the campaign, “This is an excellent way to engage young people in the problems of waste and to give them real, practical solutions to address the issues.”

Schools have been supported by the Council’s Waste Education team to undertake audits of their packed lunch waste and develop plans to take action. Teachers have benefited from free resources packs with ideas to incorporate the scheme into their classroom teaching.

By reducing their packed lunch waste and running an inspiring campaign involving the whole school community, schools could win a cash prize

Demelza Annison of Resource Futures, who is  coordinating the campaign, said, “We are now in the second year of running the Waste Free Lunch campaign and have received a terrific response from schools across Devon.

The children have really enjoyed getting hands-on with their waste and this has stimulated some interesting ideas for ways to reduce it.

The practical nature of the campaign has created some excellent learning opportunities, linking to literacy and numeracy, as well as educating our young people as citizens of the future.

Look out for next year’s campaign in March 2015, which will be even bigger!”

The winners of the Waste Free Lunch will be announced on the 28 March.