Live Greener and Bring a Waste-Free Lunch to Work

Photo courtesy of www.planetforward.ca

Did you make a New Year’s resolution to live greener in 2010?  Well how about starting off simple and begin with packing a waste-free lunch for work.  Waste-free means your lunch is either in a reusable container or it is digested – there is no packaging or leftovers to dispose of – resulting in less congestion in landfills.

The numbers always speak volumes.  Here are some interesting (and alarming) lunch waste facts courtesy of globalstewards.org:

Paper Bags and Napkins:  It is estimated that 17 trees are cut down for every ton of non-recycled paper

Plastic Bottles:  2.5 million plastic bottles are discarded EVERY HOUR in the US

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

Juice Boxes:  Most inorganic trash retains its weight, volume, and form for at least four decades

Styrofoam:  U.S. citizens throw away 25 billion Styrofoam cups EVERY YEAR

It’s time to reduce the environmental impact of your lunch with a waste-free lunch.  It’s a pretty simple sacrifice and little effort to live greener in 2010.  The best part is that all it takes is following these 5 easy steps to pack a waste-free lunch.

1. Store your meal in reusable lunch containers (sandwiches, fruits, veggies, treats, etc.)
2. Choose real silverware and cloth napkins that are washable and reusable
3. Store juice, water or other beverages in a reusable stainless steel bottle or thermal
4. Know your appetite – manage your food portions to ensure that there are no ‘leftovers’ to discard
5. Pack it all in a reusable lunch bag or tote

Once you have a habit of packing waste-free for lunch, you’ll notice that it’s really no more difficult than packing disposables but much healthier for the planet.  Plus, not only do you live greener but you save money over the long term by cutting back on the amount of disposables you’re purchasing.  It’s not complicated, eliminate the disposables and choose reusable and you’ve got planet-healthy, waste-free lunches every day.