(204) 687-6169
Flin Flon & District Environment Council, Inc.
  • Home
  • Recycling
  • Landfill
  • News
  • About Us

The Three R's and Lunch

23/9/2015

0 Comments

 

Originally published Sept 16/15   The Reminder. Flin Flon, Mb. Sponsored by North of 53 Consumers Coop.

The beginning of a new school year often means the return to packing lunches.  For others, packing a lunch for work is a year round task.

There is a lot of information about packing a lunch that is healthy for people. How healthy is it for the environment?

How many resources does it use? How much garbage does it create?

The average school child’s lunch produces 30.5 kg or 67 pounds of garbage a year.

Remembering the three R’s of being environmentally friendly makes it easier to think about packing an environmentally healthy lunch. 

The three R’s – reduce, reuse, recycle – are listed in order of most important.

The best thing for the environment is to reduce the amount of stuff used. Secondly, reusing goes a long way to reducing the waste created. Recycling is third in order of priority.

The best way to reduce garbage from lunches is to package food in reusable containers.

Use a lunch kit instead of a bag which is thrown away.

Refillable beverage bottles, reusable containers for sandwiches and other foods are available.

 It may seem more expensive at first but the cost of purchasing plastic bags and throw away containers adds up over time. Prepackaged lunch items are also more expensive.

Some heavier plastic resealable bags can be washed and reused several times.

Some containers from lunches that are used only once like juice boxes and beverage bottles are recyclable. Prepackaged ‘lunchable’ containers and single serving fruit containers are usually # 7 plastic which can also be recycled.

Remember the order of the three R’s. Recycling is important but it is the last.  Reusable containers are better.

Good choices now help future generations. 

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    Author
    Deb Odegaard has been with the Flin Flon Community Recycling program since it began  in 1992.  She  became the Administrator in 2013.
    Deb writes a  column 'The Recycling Bin' in The Reminder, Flin Flon's newspaper. Past columns are posted here along with recycling stats  and anything else on her mind. 

    Categories

    All
    Brief History
    Events
    Recycling Bin 2020
    Recycling Bin 2021
    Recycling Statistics
    The Recycling Bin 2014
    The Recycling Bin 2015
    The Recycling Bin 2016
    The Recycling Bin 2017
    The Recycling Bin 2018
    The Recycling Bin 2019
    The Recycling Bin 2023

    Archives

    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    October 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    January 2023
    November 2022
    October 2022
    August 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    April 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014

    RSS Feed

​Flin Flon & District Environment Council, Inc