APRIL TIP: A "Green" Lunch

When you're at work, school, or even meeting a friend for lunch, have you ever thought: "How can I make this meal more 'green'?" Not literally, well unless your'e enjoying a nice salad. But there are very easy, practical ways you can be more green with your daily lunch - simply.

Below are simple tips on how you can make a change in your daily routine that can be a positive effect on the environment around you.

• Use a reusable lunch carrier (cloth bag, lunchbox), not disposable bags
• Plan ahead and use reusable containers, not plastic wrap, foil or Styrofoam
• Buy a reusable mug or glass for drinks NO single-use cartons or cans
• CLOTH NAPKIN to wash and re-use. Skip the paper napkins
• Bring a set of silverware to work to wash and re-use and pass on the plastic forks and spoons.
  

*A Few Extra Tips*

If your meeting a friend for lunch try bringing your lunch from home and doing a picnic using the tips above.

Consider buying a Bento Box, a Japanese-style lunch box that has great compartments in which you can make a healthy meal every day and build some dietary consistency into your life. Plus, it's a fun, relaxing, economically sound alternative to the cafe and fast food lunches and a lot more friendly to the environment.

Lunch Waste Facts:

• ALUMINUM FOIL: More than 20 million Hershey's kisses are wrapped with 133 square miles of foil every day.
• ALUMINUM AND TIN CANS: In the time it takes you to read this sentence, more than 50,000 12-oz. aluminum cans were made.
• BANANA AND ORANGE PEELS: Food debris in a landfill decompose only 25% in the first 15 years (try composting or vermi-culture!)
• JUICE BOXES: Most inorganic trash retains its weight, volume, and form for at least four decades.
• PAPER BAGS AND NAPKINS: It is estimated that 17 trees are cut down for every ton of non-recycled paper.
• PLASTIC BOTTLES, FORKS, WRAP: U.S. citizens discard 2-1/2 million plastic bottles every hour.
• STYROFOAM: U.S. citizens throw away 25 billion Styrofoam cups every year.

*Also, see our September 2008 tip: Say No to Styrofoam*


Hope this encourages you to think about what your packing for lunch and making it a little more GREEN, simply!