As part of an educational visit to Carymoor everyone is invited to take part in our Waste Free Lunch Challenge. This competition encourages schools to bring the most eco-friendly lunches that they can.
Pupils will be asked to sort their rubbish after lunch into different bins. We encourage them to identify items that can be:
Reused - such as a refillable water bottle, lunchbox, tupperware containers.
Recycled - tin foil, aluminium cans,
Composted - fruit peel and cores, vegetable sticks,
Then we weigh the following items to see how much non-recycleable waste was created.
Food Waste - uneaten sandwiches, biscuits, cakes etc
Non-recyclable items - crisp packets, cling film, biscuit and cake wrappers, etc
The combined weight of these items will be used to calculate the amount of waste per pupil. The school with the smallest amount per pupil, and therefore most waste-free lunches, at the end of the academic year will win our ‘Waste Free Lunch Award’.
We understand that some items we class as non-recyclable can be recycled with Terracycle or at Supermarkets but we are focussing on what can be recycled with your kerbside collection. We would like to encourage children not to bring single use water bottles. Although these can be recycled it is much better for the environment to refill a resuable bottle.
Congratulations to West Pennard who were the winners in 2023.
|
Leader board position |
School Name |
Year group |
Weight of waste per person (g) |
|
1 |
West Pennard Cof E Primary (Otter Class) |
5 |
0.17 |
|
2 |
Keinton Mandeville Primary (Falcon Class) |
4&5 |
1.72 |
|
3 |
St Pauls Junior School (Collet class and half of Fosse Class) |
3 |
1.80 |
Photo - 2022 winners Queen's College Taunton
Small changes to how a packed lunch is put together can really help to reduce waste. Here are some tips to make a packed lunch as waste free as possible.
Put sandwiches in a reusable container or wrap, such as Tupperware, an ice-cream or margarine tub or beeswax wrap, instead of wrapping in clingfilm or plastic bags.
Use a re-fillable drinks bottle or flask instead of single-use cartons, cans or pouches.
Buy family size packs of crisps, biscuits or yoghurt and transfer small amounts into reusable containers for the day, instead of buying multipacks of individually wrapped items.
Look for recyclable packaging such as paper, card or foil, rather than plastic.
Have fun baking treats with your children. When packed in a reusable container, home baked treats usually create less waste than shop-bought, pre-packaged items. Paper cake cases can be composted.
An extra piece of fruit is a healthy alternative to packaged snacks such as crisps or biscuits and any cores, skins or peel can be composted. If your child finds it a challenge to eat a whole piece of fruit, cut it into smaller pieces and pack them in a reusable container.
Try to only pack the amount of food that your child will eat so that there isn't excess food that might be wasted.
Whether that's the odd hour, a regular day or even a longer work experience placement, your time is very valuable to us. Our growing team of volunteers makes a vital contribution both at the centre and at events across the county.