How to Pack a Nutritious Waste-Free Lunch

A brown bag lunch can produce a staggering amount of waste — leftover foods, plastic bottles and packaging and the brown bag itself. Packing a waste-free lunch for your child makes a significant difference. Save yourself money and benefit the environment by packing nutritious and environmentally friendly lunches for school, work, traveling and picnics.

Step 1:

Pack reusable items. Avoid the brown paper bag that ends up as waste; instead, pack your lunch in a canvas lunch bag —- it’s sturdy, easy to clean and often equipped with insulation to keep foods fresh. Replace plastic baggies with reusable containers to hold snacks and a sandwich. For a waste-free lunch, include other reusable items, such as a refillable water bottle, ice pack, utensils and a cloth napkin.

Step 2:

Recycle plastics and aluminum. It’s best to avoid plastics such as water and juice bottles and foods with heavy packaging. If you’re on the go, however, sometimes it’s the only option. Be sure to dispose of plastics or soda cans in the correct recycling bin rather than in the trash bin headed for the landfill. 

Step 3:

Don’t let any food go to waste. If you didn’t get around to your lunch yogurt, preserve it for the next day. Eliminate food waste at home by using dinner leftovers for lunch. For a healthy serving of dietary fiber, select whole-grain breads, such as whole wheat or whole rye for your sandwich.

Step 4:

Select unpackaged fruit and vegetables; though designed to be convenient, the packaging creates unnecessary waste. Visit the farmers market and stock up for the week with local produce. Shop for potassium-rich fruits, such as bananas, prunes and honeydew melon, that give a nutritional boost during the lunch hour. Accompany raw broccoli, cauliflower or carrot sticks with a low-fat dressing for a great afternoon snack.

Step 5:

Buy snack foods in bulk. Individual packaging of crackers, cheese and other snacks generates waste. Buying in bulk is less costly and waste-free. For snacks rich in vitamin E, fill up a bag of seeds and nuts, such as sunflower seeds, almonds and hazelnuts.

Step 6:

Compost fruit and veggie scraps. These organic materials are excellent nitrogen sources for composing and contribute to making fertile soil. Shred your scraps and mix them into your backyard or school compost heap. Be sure to bury food scraps to make compost piles less attractive for wildlife.

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How safe are green cleaning products?

A growing number of people are seeking so-called “green” cleaners — products made with natural, nontoxic, and biodegradable ingredients. Sales of natural cleaning products totaled $105 million in the last year.

                                           

Some of these cleaners promise that they contain natural (instead of synthetic) agents, break down quickly in the environment, or pose less of a toxic threat to humans and ecosystems. But critics caution that just because the ingredients in green cleaners are plant-based or natural doesn’t necessarily mean they’re safe.

Although green cleaners may purport to list all ingredients, the market is largely unregulated — which means consumers still must be wary of what’s in the bottle. Even cleaning products labeled “natural” may contain some fraction of synthetic chemicals. Or they may contain natural ingredients consumers would rather avoid, such as petroleum distillates, some of which can cause cancer. And just because a cleaning product is biodegradable and made from plant-based sources doesn’t mean that it is without potential adverse effects on health.

Plant-based ingredients included in some green cleaners include limonene (a citrus-based oil), pine oil, and the foaming agent coconut diethanolamide – all of which can cause allergic dermatitis. And a recent study of natural and nontoxic consumer products found the suspected cancer-causing chemical 1,4-dioxane in roughly half of 100 tested products — including several dish washing liquids with words such as “Earth friendly” and “eco” in their brand names.

Some natural cleaners still contain petroleum distillates such as benzene, or 1,4 dioxane, both of which can cause cancer, not to mention the fact that they come from a non-renewable resource (oil) which is, in and of itself, far from eco-friendly.

1,4 dioxane is also a suspected kidney toxicant, neurotoxicant and respiratory toxicant.

Based on the Organic Consumer’s Association’s review of natural and organic personal care and household cleaning products, the only products that consistently tested negative for 1,4 dioxane were those carrying the USDA Certified Organic seal.

Other dangerous ingredients to look out for include:

• Phosphates – cause algae proliferation in bodies of water, killing marine life
• Nonylphenol ethoxylates – cause reproductive defects, liver and kidney damage
• Phthalates – cause sperm damage and reproductive defects in boys
• Volatile organic compounds, including 1,4-dichlorobenzene – cause nose and throat irritation, dizziness, asthma
• Glycol ethers
• Ammonia
• Chlorine
• Ethanolamines

Consumer advocates have pressed for stricter labeling rules, but the industry has resisted, arguing that long lists of ingredients would create a distraction on product labels, drawing attention away from important safety information.

For many home cleaning chores, you can avoid commercial products entirely by making your own cleaners. 

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Recycling Old Electronics

Want a responsible solution for getting rid of old, no longer used televisions, computers, monitors and printers?

Find an organization in your area that accepts computers, computer monitors, printers, fax machines, and televisions for recycling. These programs are being designed in many cities by not-for-profit organizations comprised of industry and retailers, in cooperation with individual program managers.

                                    

What are your options?

1) REUSE: Functioning but still usable equipment maybe shared, traded or donated. There are even some organizations that can assist you in finding a suitable reuse option for your old electronic equipment. Consider donating unwanted electronics to a friend, family member or a local school or charity.

Before getting rid of your old equipment, ensure that the reuse option that you are considering provides for an equivalent level of protection for the environment and human health. For instance: ensure that your equipment will not be landfilled or shipped overseas; ensure that the reuse organization has a policy for ensuring the security of user’s information such as that contained on disk drives; and ensure that the organization uses a provincially approved recyclers for any unusable parts or equipment.

2) RECYCLE: Some of the issues surrounding the management of waste electronics include illegal dumping, shipping offshore to developing countries, improper handling or disposal of toxic materials, and inadequate health and safety systems for workers handling and processing this equipment. Guard against the land filling and improper handling and disposal of hazards materials, and dumping of any equipment or parts in developing nations.

At the rate modern day electronics tend to become obsolete, this is an extremely important issue. Do your part to minimize environmental impact from old electronic items.

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Disposal of Household Hazardous Waste

Many products commonly found around the house qualify as hazardous waste and are potentially harmful to the environment if not disposed of properly.  Hazardous waste is a substance that is toxic, corrosive, reactive or ignitable. Household chemicals such as motor oil, cans of leftover paint and cleansers and items such as batteries and fluorescent or incandescent bulbs can be harmful to humans, fish and birds if not disposed of properly. Here are some ways to dispose of these items safely.   

                           

Step 1:

Inspect each item for warning labels and consult any manuals that came with the item for warnings and disposal guidelines. Treat anything designated as poisonous or flammable or marked with the biohazard symbol as hazardous waste, and dispose according to manufacturer’s guidelines. It is advisable that you consider unlabeled substances or those of unknown composition as hazardous waste.

Step 2:

Sort your items for disposal. You may have to take different items to different recycling or processing locations. Hazardous waste items include paint, pool chemicals, pesticide, fertilizers, weed killer, motor oil, antifreeze, solvents, cleaning chemicals, batteries, aerosol cans, syringes and other medical waste, propane tanks, and fluorescent and incandescent light bulbs and tubes.

Step 3:

Call your sanitation department to find out if your community has curbside pickup of hazardous waste and the designated pickup days. Some places have separate collections for e-waste —- electronics, such as old computers and peripherals.

Step 4:

Check your municipality’s website to see when it holds hazardous waste roundups. These events are usually set up at a local fire station, school parking lot or other community building. The public may drop off old chemicals, batteries, motor oil and other items. Ask what kinds of items are accepted and whether any quantity restrictions are in place.

Step 5:

Call your local waste management authority for a list of places that have permanent drop-off sites for hazardous waste. These may be private companies that accept specific kinds of items. For example, some auto repair places are equipped to recycle old motor oil; some also accept cooking grease.

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Source: National Geographic

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Packing a Waste-Free Lunch

School children throw out lots of lunch packaging and waste each year. By packing a waste-free lunch, children learn practical ways of conserving resources while schools save on disposal costs. Waste-free lunches are also economical, relying on bulk foods and reusable packaging to cut down on trash.

                        

                                   

Step 1:

Use a refillable bottle to send water or juice with lunch instead of buying single-serving beverages. Include washable utensils, and pack foods in reusable containers to further reduce waste.

Step 2:

Pick foods that have a natural wrapping, such as bananas, oranges and hard-boiled eggs. Encourage your child to place this waste into compost containers at school or bring it home for composing,

Step 3:

Place foods in a lunch tote, lunch box or reusable cloth bag for easy portability. Include a cloth napkin to take care of any spills. Place a reusable ice pack in the tote, box or bag for foods that may spoil quickly.

Step 4:

Buy bulk foods such as nuts, dried fruits and yogurt that can be divided into smaller reusable containers for lunch.

Step 5:

Portion foods carefully to avoid waste. Cut up apples and other foods into smaller portions to encourage snacking later in the day if lunch is not fully consumed.

Step 6:

Save leftovers from previous dinners for healthy lunches, which eliminates the waste created from preparing new meals. To avoid taste fatigue, freeze leftover portions for lunches during the next week.

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